Allegheny County Residents to Lt. Governor: Legalize Weed in PA
Listening tour stops in state's second largest county, wraps up in Philly Sunday
Dozens of people showed up over the weekend for two public forums as part of Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman's Listening Tour on whether the state should legalize marijuana for recreational use.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports audiences were overhwhelmingly in favor of legalization for various reasons including treatment for people with anxiety, to keeping people out of prison and raising more tax revenue. The P-G says audience members also voiced opinions about how such a law would be administered, from how any revenue would be spent (on drug treatment centers, said one person) to who should be able to buy it (no one under age 21 everyone agreed).
One woman, a teacher from Ross Township, was the only person to raise her hand when Fetterman asked for a show of hands for-and-against.
"I do not want your children, my children ... to have to experience an accident where some car just hit them and it's because they're high," the Post-Gazette quoted Kirsten Ennis as saying. USAToday reports, studies have shown an increase in car crashes in states where recreational marijuana is now legal.
The 67-county listening tour wraps up this weekend with four sessions in Philadelphia. If you weren't be able to make a listening tour stop, you can still give your feedback by clicking here .
Here are our previous stories on the issue and the tour if you need to get caught up: