The Honorable Josh Shapiro Governor Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 508 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120
The Honorable Austin Davis Lieutenant Governor Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 107 Main Capitol Building Harrisburg, PA 17120
February 5, 2026
Dear Governor Shapiro,
On behalf of a broad coalition of Pennsylvania stakeholders, including civil liberties advocates and criminal justice reform leaders, we write to respectfully urge you to make adult-use cannabis legalization a top priority in 2026 and to convene formal five-party leadership discussions with the House and Senate to finally deliver this long-overdue reform.
Adult-use cannabis legalization has been a component of your budget proposal for the past three consecutive years, reflecting both sound fiscal policy and the clear will of the people of the Commonwealth. In addition, multiple bipartisan adult-use bills have been introduced in both chambers of the General Assembly, demonstrating that this issue transcends party lines and is ripe for action.
Yet Pennsylvania continues to fall further behind. As surrounding states implement adult-use cannabis programs, the Commonwealth is losing out on thousands of good-paying jobs, hundreds of millions in tax revenue, and significant economic development opportunities— benefits that are instead fl owing across our borders. This competitive disadvantage grows more pronounced with each year of inaction.
Most critically, the failure to enact adult-use regulations and meaningful decriminalization continues to impose profound human costs. Thousands of Pennsylvanians are arrested, jailed, or otherwise entangled in the criminal justice system each year for non-violent cannabis offenses—conduct that is legal and unpunished in nearly every neighboring state. As Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2019, you stated that criminalizing adult-use marijuana “wastes scarce law enforcement resources, disproportionately impacts minority communities, and does not make us safer.”1 You were right then, and that remains true today.
With the federal rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III and adult-use legalization now enacted in more than half of the country, including all but one of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states, the Commonwealth is unmistakably behind the times. The momentum is clear, the policy case is well-established, and public support is overwhelming.
We respectfully ask that you include adult-use cannabis legalization in the five-party talks you referenced in your February 3rd budget address2 to establish a clear, collaborative path forward in 2026. Doing so would align Pennsylvania with national trends, advance economic and workforce goals, and most importantly, end the unnecessary criminalization of Pennsylvanians for simple cannabis possession and use that the public overwhelmingly agrees should no longer be punished.
We stand ready to work with your administration and legislative leaders to help get this done.
Respectfully, ACLU of Pennsylvania African American Chamber of Commerce Doctors for Drug Policy Reform Last Prisoner Project Law Enforcement Action Partnership Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) Pennsylvania Prison Society Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania Straight Ahead
CC: Dana Fritz Steve Williams Anne Baloga Nena Carter Jason Gottesman Carlton Logue Adam Pankake Colleen DeFrank