For the fourth year running, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called on state lawmakers to legalize adult-use cannabis during his annual budget address.
“Everyone knows we need to get this done, so let’s come together and finally get it over the finish line,” he said Tuesday.
Despite some momentum in Washington, D.C., courtesy of President Donald Trump’s Dec. 18 executive order directing marijuana rescheduling, the situation in Harrisburg is likely still deadlocked, legalization advocates told the Philly Voice.
In the past, a partisan divide between pro-reform Democrats and prohibitionist Republicans has kept adult-use legalization bottled up in the state capitol despite limited bipartisan support.
More recently, a difference in vision between lawmakers in the state House and Senate has worked against cannabis reform.
Partisan divide, differing visions on Pennsylvania marijuana legalization
Last May, the Democrat-controlled state House passed a legalization bill for the first time in Pennsylvania history.
However, the Republican-controlled state Senate ultimately rejected House Bill 1200, which would have legalized cannabis sales to adults 21 and older but restricted legal retail to state-run stores.
Since then, bills that would create an adult-use industry worth as much as $2 billion have been stuck in limbo.
“With the split between the Senate and the House, the whole strategy for legalization at this point is so far apart. I don’t think it’s ever been further apart,” Chris Goldstein, regional director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told the Philly Voice.
“We are still spinning our wheels in Pennsylvania. I don’t see the traction that’s required to advance the legislation.”
President Trump’s marijuana rescheduling opportunity
Some Pennsylvania marijuana legalization advocates held out hope that Trump’s support for marijuana rescheduling could break the deadlock.
“The signals that are coming out of Washington are that it is going to happen,” Meredith Buettner, executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, an industry trade association, told the Voice.
“I think that has kind of helped in changing the tone of the conversation here in Harrisburg.”
There’s been no movement on federal marijuana rescheduling since the executive order and Oval Office press conference.
The executive order directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to finish moving marijuana to Schedule 3 of the Controlled Substances Act “in the most expeditious manner” in compliance with federal law.
But there’s no timeline for when that can happen.
How strong would a Pennsylvania adult-use cannabis market be?
Pennsylvania has one of the strongest MMJ-only markets in the country, with annual sales on pace to exceed $1.6 billion in 2025, according to state figures.
Medical cannabis retailers reported $1.3 billion in sales through the first three quarters of 2025, the most recent data available.
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A regulated cannabis market in Pennsylvania could generate $2.1 billion in first-year sales, $4.2 billion in total economic output and more than 33,000 new jobs, according to an analysis by FTI Consulting.
The state also would see $420 million in recurring annual tax revenue – funds that could be used to support transit, higher education and other underfunded programs.
