The GOP-controlled Pennsylvania Senate on Friday blocked an amendment to a House-passed medical marijuana bill that would have allowed registered patients to grow their own plants for personal use. Under the proposal from Sen. Sharif Street (D), patients 21 and older would have been able to cultivate up to five plants. That would’ve marked a notable expansion of the state’s existing program through which cannabis is only legally available from dispensaries. Members tabled the amendment in a party-line vote of 29-21. The full medical marijuana legislation it would have been attached to later advanced without the home-grow provision in a 47-3 vote. Street told Marijuana Moment that he is “disappointed that Republican leadership voted to table my home cultivation amendment.” Under the measure, cultivation would’ve had to take place in an “enclosed and locked space,” and patients would’ve needed to “take reasonable precautions to ensure that the plants are secure from unauthorized access, including unauthorized access by an individual under 21 years of age.” Further, only patients or caregivers would’ve been able to tend to the plants. And violating the measure by growing more than five plants, selling or giving them away would’ve resulted in the loss of home cultivation privileges, as well as other penalties prescribed under the law.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 06/26/2021 08:51:00