A budget crisis could make Pennsylvania the next state to legalize adult-use cannabis. Pennsylvania lawmakers are staring down a gap as big as $3.7 billion, and they have few options to fill it other than revenue from regulated and taxed cannabis.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has pledged that he will once again use his annual budget address on Feb. 4 to call on state lawmakers to legalize adult use in Pennsylvania.
The cannabis industry, in turn, organized a fundraiser for the governor in early January, and some of the state’s medical cannabis operators took the opportunity to inform Shapiro that up to 60% of customers shopping at adult-use stores in Maryland, New Jersey and Ohio come from Pennsylvania, several attendees told MJBizDaily.
That represents lost revenue for Pennsylvania cannabis businesses, which underscores a key issue for Shapiro – the state’s budget deficit. Lawmakers, operators and advocates alike believe that budget pressure will be what finally gets longstanding bipartisan recreational cannabis legislation across the line in 2025.
This article was originally published on MJBizDaily, you can read the full article here.
