PA Debates State Stores for Marijuana

It's Pennsylvania, so of course it'd be a state monopoly

HARRISBURG – State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery often compares Pennsylvania's marijuana laws to the alcohol prohibition laws of the early 20th century.

He says it's a culture war that one day will end. Maybe sooner than one might think.

"I'm sure that in 10 years, we will look back on prohibition as a quaint relic of the past," Leach said.

Leach, one of the state's most progressive lawmakers, introduced legislation to legalize marijuana use for adults age 21 and older. Leach's legislation envisions marijuana sold alongside alcohol in state liquor stores and beer distributors, with production, distribution and sale regulated in a similar way as alcohol.

Comments

[Malcolm Kyle]

Prohibitionists dance hand in hand with every possible type of criminal one can imagine?an unholy alliance of ignorance, greed and hate which works to destroy all our hard fought freedoms, wealth and security.

The only people that believe prohibition is working are the ones making a living by enforcing laws in it's name, and those amassing huge fortunes on the black market profits. This situation is wholly unsustainable, and as history has shown us, conditions will continue to deteriorate until we finally, just like our forefathers, see sense and revert back to tried and tested methods of regulation. None of these substances, legal or illegal, are ever going to go away but we can decide to implement policies that do far more good than harm.

During alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, all profits went to enrich thugs and criminals. Young men died every day on inner-city streets while battling over turf. A fortune was wasted on enforcement that could have gone on treatment. On top of the budget-busting prosecution and incarceration costs, billions in taxes were lost. Finally the economy collapsed. Sound familiar?

So should the safety and freedom of the rest of us be compromised because of the few who cannot control themselves?

Many of us no longer think it should!