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Pennsylvania Governor Says Trump’s Marijuana Rescheduling Move Is An ‘Important Step’ That Helps The Push To Legalize In The State

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2 months ago

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“Almost all of our neighbors have legalized marijuana and it’s benefiting from hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and revenue.”

By John Cole, The Center Square

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) believes the Trump administration took an “important step” Thursday after redefining how the federal government classifies medical marijuana.

US Attorney General Todd Blanche issued an order immediately FDA approved marijuana products and Marijuana regulated by state medical licenses III of the Controlled Substances Act.

“Governor Shapiro has made it clear that we need to move forward — nearly all of our residents have legalized marijuana and are benefiting from hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity and revenue — and this important step by the federal government only adds support to the Governor’s proposal,” Shapiro spokeswoman Rosie Lapowsky told The Center Square. “The Shapiro Administration stands ready to seize this opportunity to work with the General Assembly to legalize marijuana and make our Commonwealth more competitive and fair.”

Since 1970, along with marijuana, heroin, LSD and ecstasy, it has been classified as a Schedule I drug. This designation defined them as drugs with no approved medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Schedule III drugs are defined as having a moderate or low potential for physical and psychological dependence. Some examples of Schedule III drugs are products containing less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit (Tylenol with codeine), ketamine, anabolic steroids, and testosterone.

The Trump administration’s decision on Thursday moves medical marijuana from one of the more restricted drug classifications to an unregulated category and gives cannabis businesses a tax break. However, it is exempt from federal legislation.

In April 2016, then-Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed the legislation making Pennsylvania the 24th state to create a medical marijuana program.

Shapiro announced his support for legalizing recreational marijuana In 2019, he was serving his first term as state attorney general.

Since being elected governor in 2022, he has called on lawmakers to pass an adult-use program, even as the supposed tax revenue is included in all of his budget plans. If approved on July 1, the administration believes the legalization would raise $729 million.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. He has been an advocate for the legalization of marijuana and celebrated the decision taken by the Trump administration.

“John has been a lifelong supporter of legal weed,” a spokesperson for Fetterman told The Center Square. “It’s a good step forward and he supports it.”

NORML, the National Organization for Marijuana Law Reform, has given Shapiro and Fetterman an “A+” grade for their support of marijuana legalization.

However, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., has seen things differently in the past. In December, he signed a joint letter with 21 Senate Republican colleagues opposing the Trump administration’s reclassification of the drug.

“Scheduling marijuana as a Schedule III drug will undermine your strong efforts to make America Great Again and usher in America’s next economic Golden Age,” the senators wrote in their letter to the Trump administration. “The only winners from the renegotiation will be the bad actors, such as Communist China, who will leave Americans footing the bill.”

In a telephone town hall that same month, McCormick described himself as a “strong advocate for the use of medicinal marijuana,” but said at the time that he was “opposed to moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.”

However, McCormick did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment Thursday about his thoughts on the Trump administration’s latest move.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is seeking the GOP nomination for governor, also did not respond to The Center Square’s request for comment.

FOX43 reported in August 2025 that Garrity said he did not have a firm policy position on the issue, but cautioned against lawmakers claiming his financial benefits.

“The amount of money they had in the budget, I would say it’s way too much,” Garrity said, according to FOX43. “I don’t have a policy position on that, but I will tell you if they pass the legislation, I’m going to make sure it’s properly bankrolled.”

Organizations in Pennsylvania and beyond have also weighed in on the Trump administration’s latest move.

“Today’s order marks a historic reversal in federal cannabis policy,” said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano. “It validates the experiences of tens of millions of Americans, as well as tens of thousands of doctors, who have long recognized the legitimate medical utility of cannabis, as well as the legitimacy of longstanding cannabis access programs available in most US states.”

“It wasn’t long ago that federal officials were denying that cannabis had legitimate medical utility, were confiscating doctors’ licenses for discussing medical cannabis with patients, and were shutting down state-licensed marijuana dispensaries,” he added. “Now the government wants to integrate these programs into the existing federal and international framework for regulating substances with recognized medical value.”

The PA Family Institute sees the issue differently. They said they are disappointed with the Trump administration’s decision.

“The PA Family Institute is disappointed with the Trump Administration’s decision to provide significant tax breaks to the marijuana industry and protect this non-addictive industry,” said Dan Bartkowiak, Chief Strategy Officer of the Pennsylvania Family Institute. “Big Marijuana should not be allowed to more easily direct new consumers to harmful marijuana products.”

“In Pennsylvania, the recreational use of marijuana remains illegal, a policy that until now has been maintained by sensible PA Senate leaders. Maintaining this people-first policy helps avoid many of the public health and safety challenges seen in other states,” he added. “Evidence continues to link marijuana use, especially among youth, to increased emergency room visits, mental health concerns, and negative impacts on families and communities.”

A majority of Pennsylvanians think the government should go further, at least according to one poll.

A recent poll by Susquehanna Polling and Research showed 72 percent of Democrats, 67 percent of Republicans and 64 percent of independents Supporting the legalization of recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania.

However, due to the Trump administration’s recent decision, marijuana that is not sold through a state medical program or approved by the FDA remains Schedule I.

40 states have approved medical marijuana programs, and 24 states and Washington, DC, have legalized adult recreational use.

This story was first published by The Center Square.

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Judge declines to block New Jersey cannabis Labor Peace Agreement requirement in Curaleaf case

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8 hours ago

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June 23, 2026

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U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp, for the District of New Jersey, ruled against Curaleaf Holdings Inc.’s request for emergency relief to block the requirement that New Jersey cannabis companies sign Labor Peace Agreements (LPAs) to keep the rule in place while the underlying case continues.

Under Bloomberg Law, Judge Shipp issued an unpublished opinion that Curaleaf failed to demonstrate the “irreparable harm” courts require before issuing a preliminary injunction. That rule requires a party to prove that it will later suffer irreparable injury if the judge waits for full proceedings. Judge Shipp concluded that Curaleaf did not meet that threshold.

The resolution is not a decision on the substance of the regulation. Judge Shipp expressed skepticism that the LPA’s requirement is supported under federal law, although he declined to block it. A court may find that a challenger has failed to meet the standard of emergency assistance without adopting the challenged rule.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Enforcement Assistance and Market Modernization Act, known as CREAMMA, was signed into law by then-governor Phil Murphy in February 2021. It set up a 2020 legalization referendum and established the state’s adult cannabis market. Under CREAMMA, cannabis operators must sign an LPA and engage in collective bargaining with organized labour. These are two different obligations, both licensing requirements, not optional practices.

Curaleaf is opposing this dual mechanism. For New Jersey cannabis operators, the immediate consequence is that compliance remains mandatory while the case moves forward. The question of whether the LPA’s mandate is compatible with federal law remains unanswered.

Source: HeadyNJ



Opening photo: © Curaleaf

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Maine GOP Lawmaker Gears Up To Fight Anti-Marijuana Ballot Initiative

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8 hours ago

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June 23, 2026

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“It’s never great politically if your opponent is on TV and you don’t have the money to respond.”

By: Emma Davis, Maine Morning Star

As voters left the Woodfords Club polling station in Portland on June 9, Alex Perez and Hairo Roque, both of Connecticut, asked them to sign one. Mainers petition to roll back recreational use of legalized cannabis a decade ago Similar scenes played out in Poland and other municipalities across the country on election day.

That effort to repeal recreational cannabis was muted after the campaign missed the winter deadline to submit signatures to get it on the November ballot. Now with about 40,000 of the 67,682 signatures needed (at least 10 percent of all votes cast in the last gubernatorial election), the campaign is eyeing the November 2027 ballot, said Caroline Alcock of Massachusetts, the group’s general counsel.

The campaign appears to be driven almost exclusively by out-of-state interests, while local cannabis supporters are organizing in opposition.

“To make a bad poker reference, they’re ‘committed to pot,'” Rep. David Boyer, who led legalization efforts in 2016, said of the campaign’s sole donor, Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Colin Mack of Brunswick, who is listed as a proponent of the initiative on the secretary of state’s website, told the Maine Morning Star after the election that he thought the effort was over. However, he said that he did not participate, apart from being a local person, to send it to Augusta.

The proposed ballot referendum would ban the commercial cultivation, sale, purchase and manufacture of cannabis starting in 2028, while allowing personal use and possession of up to 2.5 ounces. It would also create new testing and tracking requirements for medical cannabis, which the Maine Legislature rejected earlier this year.

The petition is valid until the spring of 2027, 18 months later, and Alcock said the campaign plans to continue collecting signatures through the summer.

Influence from outside the state

SAM Action, the political arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which funds the campaign, he contributed $2 million in December. As a non-profit, the group is not required to disclose its financial sources.

SAM Action did not respond to multiple requests for comment. (The local Maine affiliate disbanded shortly after the 2016 referendum and is not involved in the current petition, as far as Scott Gagnon knows.)

SAM Action is also the only donor behind a similar anti-cannabis campaign in Massachusetts.

They have been in both Maine and Massachusetts the accusations of some signature collectors that the initiatives are misrepresentedthe leader Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) to encourage voters to read the entire petition before signing

Alcock said the campaign’s talking points to collectors are not misleading.

“We think it’s more of an adversarial strategy,” Alcock said of the allegations. “We’re not telling anyone to be misleading to voters or to use anything other than approved and vetted talking points about it.”

Although state law and the Maine Constitution require petition circulators to be Maine residents and registered voters, those residency requirements are largely unenforceable because of federal court rulings.

In 2020, Bellows was sued by a group that argued that the demands protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment violated “fundamental political speech”.

A district court granted the group — which included We the People PAC, Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, a nonprofit and professional signature gatherer — a preliminary injunction, and in 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the residency requirement was unconstitutional.

The state entered into a consent order with the group, which now follows all Maine citizen initiatives, to allow out-of-state circulators as long as they agree to submit to Maine’s jurisdiction for investigation or prosecution of any alleged violation of Maine law.

Building a defense

Since the re-emergence of an anti-cannabis petition on the ballot, Boyer has begun preparing for the defense.

As the petition began to spread this winter, Boyer opened a bank account and began having initial conversations with local and national groups to organize an opposition campaign.

“I’m going to dust myself off and register with the state and start collecting money,” Boyer said after seeing signature gatherers at the polls earlier this month.

His campaign is not about getting a competitive question on the ballot, but about raising money for “no vote” signs, mailings, TV ads and other ways to oppose the petition.

“We don’t have all the money they need,” Boyer said. “We don’t have to equate one and the other, but you know it’s never good politically if your opponent is on TV and you don’t have the money to respond.”

This story was first published by the Maine Morning Star.

user photo Brian Shamblen.

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Ayotte vetoes bill allowing New Hampshire medical cannabis dispensary greenhouses

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1 day ago

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June 22, 2026

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New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed Senate Bill 468 on Friday, blocking a bipartisan measure that would have allowed the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries to increase their supply of cannabis and lower prices for patients.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, would limit each dispensary to a single greenhouse for growing its own cannabis. Ayott rejected it outright. In his veto statement, he writes: “I do not support the expansion of marijuana cultivation in our state. That is why I have vetoed SB 468.”

New Hampshire legalized medical marijuana in 2013 under then-governor Maggie Hassan. The state limits possession to two ounces and limits sales to a small network of nonprofit “alternative treatment centers.” The state’s seven dispensaries, located in Chichester, Conway, Dover, Keene, Lebanon, Merrimack and Plymouth, are operated by four such organizations. Patients need a medical marijuana card issued by their doctor to purchase at any of them.

New Hampshire remains the only New England state without legal recreational marijuana. Across the country, 24 states have legalized recreational use and 39 have legalized medical use. Ayotte has previously cited concerns about law enforcement’s inability to measure marijuana-impaired drivers using current technology, as well as the mental health and “quality of life” of young people to oppose broader legalization.

A two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate would be needed to override the veto. Parliament plans to vote on a repeal this year.

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