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Will recreational marijuana soon be legal in Pennsylvania?
FOX 29's Chris O'Connell reports.
PHILADELPHIA - With voters in New Jersey overwhelmingly passing a bill to legalize recreational marijuana is it a sign for other states, including Pennsylvania?
“It’s money, it’s jobs, it’s justice, it’s freedom,
Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman said.
Fetterman has long been an advocate for legal marijuana, but nowadays after New Jersey voters approved adult-use cannabis he says Pennslvynia could be poised to lose out on millions in revenue.
“Legal weed in New Jersey is huge for Pennsylvania too because 40 percent of our population will no more than a drive to the grocery store to buy as much legal marijuana as they want," he explained.
Not everyone wants to go green there are still many groups who fear legalizations leads to drugged driving and an increase in teen use.
“Pennsylvania has knocked it out of the park in terms of patient populations, rollout efficiency, time to scale. Pennsylvania has over 90 dispensaries," CEO of Keystone Shops medical marijuana dispensary Mike Badey said.
According to the Department of Health, 425,000 patients have registered for the program. Sales just hit $2.75 billion and since COVID, people visiting a dispensary weekly went from 73,000 in February to 140,000 this month.
“During COVID anxiety is high among everybody and anxiety being an approved condition in Pennsylvania has made it simple and easy to go get their card," Badey said.
"An overwhelming majority of Americans now believe this and in Pennsylvania, I know we want it. And I don’t understand truthfully why the Republican legislature would stand in the way of that," Fetterman said.
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