Pennsylvania Senator Daylin Leach has been a supporter of marijuana reform for awhile. With Pennsylvania considering legalizing medical marijuana, the Senator took some of his staff to Colorado recently on a fact finding mission. While Mr. Leach was there, he took a couple of puffs of a vape pen. He said the following according to CBS Pittsburgh:
“I took a couple of hits; I definitely felt something,” said Sen. Leach. “It’s less than I would have smoked when I was in high school, but I didn’t want to do anything else, maybe because I’m getting older or I haven’t done it for a long time and I’m a lightweight.”
Sen. Leach will be in Pittsburgh next week for meetings with marijuana advocates and fellow legislators as he continues to push his two bills, one for medicinal marijuana and the other for recreational pot.
The trip was funded by taxpayer dollars, but the vape pen hits were not paid for by taxpayer dollars, so opponents have no need to freak out. Marijuana consumption is completely legal in Colorado, and using a vape pen is much healthier than smoking marijuana. I doubt those facts will stop opponents from attacking Senator Leach, but considering reform is supported by a majority of Americans, I don’t think any attacks by opponents will matter.
Senator Leach stated in the article I referenced that he thinks that recreational marijuana is ‘coming within a couple of years’ to Pennsylvania. I certainly hope so. Possession, cultivation, and/or distribution of marijuana can result in jail time and hefty fines in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there is a police chief that loves to bust marijuana consumers, even though the city voted to decriminalize marijuana. Statewide legalization would fix that.
