Medical cannabis is going to be re-legalized again in Pennsylvania. That much is true. However, we are not there yet and we need to all push as hard as we can. For the last 7 months Senate Bill 1182 has been in the Law and Justice Committee. All that has happened so far is that on Friday the Law and Justice Committee voted to send it out of committee to the full senate for consideration. It is now in the Appropriations Committee. Senate leadership has said there will be no action on this at present time. They go on recess in a couple of days and then will not be back until the fall. When they come back they will only be in session for just 11 days. In those 11 days it would have to get out of the Appropriations Committee and voted on in the senate. Then, once it passes there it has to go to the house of representatives for a vote. Corbett has said he will veto it so if it does it will go back for another vote and only a 2/3 majority will override the veto. If it does not pass by the end of this year then the whole thing has to start all over again next year, however it may be fast-tracked and if Tom Wolf is elected he WILL sign it. So yes, medical cannabis is coming but dont count your chickens before they hatch. Instead, everybody should be calling you reps in the state senate and house and let them know that you want action on SB 1182. It WILL happen but it is not automatically going to happen. It is only going to happen if we keep the pressure up, so everybody get to work! Some people ask who can we work with on the issue. The answer is to contact them all. Find out who you local state representative and state senator and let the know politely but firmly that we want to see some action on SB 1182. Tell them to make passing the bill a priority. In the state senate we expect the vote to be 45-5. Most of them support it, we just need to see them actually vote on it so we especially have to contact the leadership in the senate and house and ask them to move on these bills. (There is a mirror bill in the house called 2182.) There is a possibility that we can pass SB 1182 if we exert enough political influence and pressure this year. If not, then it is coming next year for sure. But lets do all that we can to bring it in THIS YEAR! We can do it, but only if people start rising up a bit more. Now is the time to push, not some time in the distant future. The battle is ON. Like NOW. I just cant more strongly recommend that we all take urgent action and keep up the momentum until we win, whether that be in 3 months from now when they come back in session or next year after Wolf becomes governor. The key is educate, educate, educate. And if you can, come out to the Reading Cannabis Reform Rally in downtown Reading on Saturday, July 19! Les Stark
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 02:33:08 +0000