Blog post #3

Legislature status in the long run great. Status as of now, eh....not so great.

Many states across the nation are having internal battles to legalize medicinal marijuana. Since those who tend to support medicinal marijuana are fairly liberal and those whom oppose it are fairly conservative, we start to see lots of controversy in the states that tend to not vote the same way in each election; among those states is Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is abnormal if anything when it comes to democrat vs republican. Making up for a large portion of Pennsylvania’s population is Philadelphia. In the city of Philadelphia, over 80% of residents tend to vote democrat (liberal). Once you travel outside of Philadelphia, you start to see the republican numbers skyrocket. If all of Pennsylvania were like Philadelphia, then there would be no controversy around medicinal marijuana in this state.

What is the status of this issue at the legislature?

There are two main bills pending in the house and the senate that are fighting to approve medicinal marijuana; House bill 1393, and Senate bill 1350. Both bills basically state the same thing, they want medicinal marijuana to be approved. The reasons for this vary from the amount of money it would save to boost our economy, to the number of lives it could help and potentially save from terminal illnesses. The house bill was referred to the Health and Human Services departmenton April 30th, 2009. The senate bill was referred to the Public Health and Welfare department on may 4th, 2010.

Who is essential to the outcome?

Representative Mark B. Cohen is the democratic majority caucus chairman, he is largely backing this bill, along with senator Daylin Leach, the democratic legislator. A group called L.I.E.V.E. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, they are all ex-policemen/women or currently employed policemen/women whom get a first hand look at what banning marijuana does to our society. The biggest obstacle/opponent we have to get around is the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the ones who have the power to allow these bills to pass.
A link for almost all you need to know: http://www.phillynorml.org/medijuana/about/history