Pennsylvania loves to tout its supremacy over Ohio in its friendly rivalry with the neighboring state. In Pittsburgh, that means talking smack on the Cleveland Browns, deriding Ohio “cuisine” like Cincinnati Chili, and mercilessly roasting Vice President J.D. Vance, who represented Ohioans before being elected to the second-highest position in government.

But there’s one area where the Buckeye State has surpassed the commonwealth — that of legalizing adult-use — or, more commonly, recreational — cannabis. The measure, which passed in 2023 and went into effect in August 2024, ensured that Pa. would be surrounded by states that allow nonmedical cannabis use, with New Jersey and New York being added to the mix.

Adding insult to injury, the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control recently reported that cannabis sales in the state topped $2.5 billion, $390 million of which came from adult-use. It’s estimated that, as of March, non-medical cannabis sales contributed $37.6 million in tax revenue to the state.

Meredith Buettner Schneider, executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, a trade association focused on advancing and changing cannabis rules and regulations, believes Ohio’s status as an adult-use cannabis-friendly state has put added pressure on Pa. leaders to expand access beyond the commonwealth’s current medical program.

“Five out of six states surrounding Pennsylvania have adult-use markets,” she says, adding that Pa. consumers crossing state lines eliminate possible revenue for the commonwealth. “Most adult consumers want legal access and are willing to participate in a regulated market. So they’re asking to pay taxes on it, right? And right now we’re saying, ‘No, we don’t want your money. Go ahead and take your money to New Jersey.’”

The commonwealth’s characteristically slow effort to legalize nonmedical cannabis marks one of many concerns facing the industry. These include how to implement an adult-use program, crack down on low-quality, possibly harmful hemp-derived products, and regulate cannabis use in a way that doesn’t interfere with access. There are also concerns over President Donald Trump’s mercurial tariffs, which, according to one New York Times article, have already threatened to impact New York’s cannabis industry.

City Paper outlined how Pa. stacks up when it comes to serving cannabis industry professionals and medical consumers, and how outside influences could muck up a resource many depend on for relief.

Regulation Aggravation

Schneider says Pa.’s most urgent issue “would be comprehensive adult-use legislation.”

“We believe that a lot of the challenges facing the existing market should be tackled through the state’s approach to adult-use legislation,” she says. “For instance, we believe that there should be the creation of an independent regulatory body.”

She explains that, currently, the commonwealth’s medical cannabis program is regulated by the Department of Health. The creation of an independent regulatory body would “allow the medical program to come out from under the Department of Health and allow a singular agency to be focused on, hopefully, all consumable cannabinoids, which would be everything from medical marijuana to adult-use marijuana to hemp-derived products as well.”

She believes the shift would help address the “challenges that the market is currently facing because of intoxicating hemp products that are sold outside of a regulated system.” These include products like Delta-9 and THC-O, as well as Kratom, an herbal substance described by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as being able to “produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects.”

While potentially harmful, Schneider says hemp-derived products — the result of a loophole in the federal Farm Bill regarding hemp production — provide options for those who either fall outside of the medical program or are unable to afford regulated cannabis.

“Certainly, the access to those products outside of a regulated market makes them attractive to folks because there’s a lower barrier to entry,” she adds. “But unfortunately, there are not all good actors in that space, and often those products are not only targeted towards minors, but also the ingredients can be dangerous, and most often those products are untested, so you don’t actually know what you’re consuming.”

Schneider says that, until there is action on the federal level, enforcement at the state level will continue to be this “patchwork of rules and regulations state-by-state.”

Finally Legalizing It

Schneider says that, over the last two years, conversations about adult-use cannabis in state government have taken a more positive direction.

“We’re having conversations about the right way to do it instead of just, Should we do it?’” she says. This includes Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro calling on lawmakers to legalize adult-use, and a bill reintroduced this year has garnered bipartisan support from the state Senate and House.

“We are really hopeful that it will be part of budget negotiations,” she says, adding that those following cannabis legislation will likely see something develop in the next several weeks. “If it doesn’t become part of the budget negotiations for this year, I think the conversation will continue during this legislative session, which goes through the end of 2026.”

While she remains cautiously optimistic, especially given continued resistance from Republicans who express concerns over public safety and other issues, Schneider believes “it’s very likely” that action will be taken over the current session.

Trump Take Weed?

If adult-use cannabis should pass, the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs still looms.

A NYT article published on March 25 outlined how, in New York’s cannabis industry, tariffs have “added to the prices of necessities like the compost that farmers add to the soil, dome-shaped ‘hoop houses’ that protect outdoor cannabis crops and the metal tins used to package prerolled joints and edibles.”

Schneider says Trump’s proposed tariffs, should they unroll as he intends, would affect Pa. consumers on a few fronts. Trump has, for the moment, backed down on his extreme tariff rates, except for China, a major producer of cannabis-related goods in the U.S. As of press time, the President threatened a 145% tariff on Chinese imports, which would dramatically hike costs for some aspects of the industry.

“It depends on how an operator’s individual supply chain is set up, right?” she says, adding that Pa. cannabis is “grown, packaged, produced, manufactured, et cetera, in-state.” This means the cannabis itself will likely not be impacted. “Because cannabis is federally illegal, everything sold in Pennsylvania has to be grown in Pennsylvania. We can’t bring product in, and product can’t leave the state.”

She says materials like plastic and glass packaging, vape hardware, fertilizers, and grow lighting made overseas would bear the brunt of price increases. Still, she doesn’t foresee prices significantly going up for cannabis consumers and patients.

“We operate on such thin margins already that these guys are used to figuring out how to deal with a price increase and spreading it across so they don’t have to raise prices for consumers and patients. Because if an eighth is a couple of dollars more, somebody is going to pick the cheaper eighth, right? So I think that in terms of that, these companies are really savvy and know how to absorb the cost.”