At Fayette listening tour, majority supports recreational marijuana
Mike Tony/For the Observer-Reporter
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman listened to Fayette County residents Tuesday during his 67-county listening tour to gather feedback regarding the legalization of adult recreational marijuana.
Mike Tony/For the Observer-Reporter
David Henning, 57, of Wharton Township spoke in favor of legalizing adult recreational cannabis at Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s listening tour stop Tuesday night at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Mike Tony/For the Observer-Reporter
Cheryl Snyder of Dunbar Township spoke against legalizing adult recreational marijuana at Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s listening tour stop Tuesday night at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
LEMONT FURNACE – Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s 67-county listening tour to solicit feedback about the legalization of adult recreational marijuana stopped in Fayette County this week, as dozens of local residents packed into Penn State Fayette’s Swimmer Hall to weigh in on the issue.
Roughly two-thirds of those in attendance raised their hands in favor of legalization at the end of the session. Only a few said they were undecided on the issue.
Twenty-seven area residents weighed in at the microphone, with those in favor of legalization touting the medicinal qualities of cannabis and economic benefit that would come from taxing it and eliminating incarceration and other law enforcement expenses related to its unlawfulness as a recreational drug.
“It’s very important that we now move forward in our society and accept the fact that marijuana could be very helpful to the human condition,” John Ruby of Hopwood said, sharing his view that marijuana can alleviate suffering for those who otherwise don’t have access to quality health care.
David Henning, 57, of Wharton Township lamented incarceration for those arrested for possession and said legalizing pot would result in safer, more transparent distribution.
“I’ve been sober for three and a half years. What got me off of alcohol? Marijuana,” Henning said, adding that he has Crohn’s disease but cannot afford the medical marijuana offered through the state’s medical cannabis program, which was signed into law in 2016. ” … Fayette County, we all know, this is not the richest community. You can’t afford $75 for three and a half grams of marijuana. I can’t do it, but I can go down the street to a drug dealer, and I can get it for $35, $45. Problem is, I don’t know what he’s selling me.”
Those against legalization called cannabis a gateway drug, citing its psychosis and paranoia-causing effects for some.
Jim Snyder, 60, of Dunbar Township argued against legalization, recalling that his introduction to marijuana at 14 opened up “a life of destruction” for him over the next 17 years. His wife Cheryl, who lost her son to heroin laced with fentanyl in 2017, also called marijuana a gateway drug.
“(D)rugs destroy families and friends,” Cheryl Snyder said.
Brian Reese, clinical supervisor at Fayette County Drug & Alcohol Commission, spoke out against legalization, echoing Snyder and others in also viewing cannabis as a gateway drug that is destroying families.
“I’ve lost clients to marijuana,” Reese said. “I’ve heard it’s never killed anybody, but if you get in a car crash, Dr. (Phillip E.) Reilly, our (county) coroner, will say it’s blunt force trauma that killed you. But that’s not why you wrecked into the tree.”
Calling himself “the worst of the bad news guy,” Reilly himself sounded off later.
“The only way you could possibly think of doing all the good things you can attribute to it is the strictest possible regulation possible,” said Reilly, the next to last among 27 residents to step up to the microphone.
Randy Raymond of North Union Township characterized himself as “in the middle,” concerned about the murkiness of DUI testing for marijuana and in favor of making the question of legalization a direct ballot referendum.
“I understand the taxation piece, (but) where would tax dollars go, what are they going to be earmarked for?” Raymond asked.
Fetterman was joined onstage by state Sen. Pat Stefano, R-Bullskin Township, state Reps. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, and Matthew Dowling, R-Uniontown, and Fayette County Commissioners Vincent A. Vicites and Angela M. Zimmerlink. All state senators, state representatives and county commissioners were invited to attend, Fetterman’s office said.
Stefano, who chairs the state Law and Justice Committee that oversees marijuana legislation, said the listening tour is solidifying the approach toward considering recreational legalization that he wants to take: publicized, recorded hearings with people from states where legalization has already happened to weigh the pros and cons.
“The best thing is for people to have the opportunity to share their opinions and their passions,” Stefano said. “And that’s what you heard tonight.”
Tuesday night’s listening tour stop came after a stop the previous night in Greensburg and stops in Washington and Waynesburg, the latter two revealing crowds respectively nearly entirely in favor of legalization and split down the middle.
Fetterman said he’s yet to run into a room where a majority of those present are against marijuana’s legalization.
Fetterman reported that Pennsylvanians have submitted more than 20,000 comments weighing on legalization through an online form at https://www.governor.pa.gov/recreational-marijuana-feedback/. Comment cards were circulated and collected at Tuesday night’s stop as well.
“There’s no guided discovery, no foregone conclusion,” Fetterman said following the session. “This is a true listening tour.”
Fetterman anticipates that the tour, which began last month, will be completed by Memorial Day. The next stop is in Somerset County Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the North Star High School auditorium, 400 Ohio St., Boswell.
“Marijuana’s not going away, so either we deal with it now or we deal with it later,” Henning said. “But it’s gonna be here. It’s not going away.”