Pennsylvania GOP State Senate Candidate Asks To Legalize Cannabis

While surveying by and large demonstrates that Democratic voters are more probable than Republicans to want to legalize pot, a developing number of Republican elected authorities and applicants that are standing up for changing cannabis laws. On Monday night, John DiSanto, a contender for Pennsylvania State Senate, included his voice in the backing of legalization.

“We’re spending so much money fighting a war that’s never going to be won,” DiSanto stated during a debate for the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania’s 15th Senate District, PennLive.com reports. “There’s no difference if somebody wants to smoke a little bit of marijuana or drink some wine on their back porch. It’s just a non-argument.”

Incumbent Sen. Rob Teplitz, a Democrat, does not support legalization. Despite the fact that the congressperson is the main co-sponsor of the medicinal cannabis bill that is working its way through the state lawmaking body, he “does not support broader legalization or broader decriminalization of marijuana,” according to spokesperson Elizabeth Rementer during an interview. DiSanto’s antagonist for the GOP nomination, Andrew Lewis, also is against legalizing cannabis but is more inclined to think about decriminalization.

“I don’t believe it’s a good idea. It destigmatizes drug use. And I think there is some evidence that shows that it is a gateway drug, and I think it would be foolish to totally legalize recreational use of marijuana in Pennsylvania,” Lewis said to PennLive in an interview after the debate. “Now we can talk decriminalization… I don’t want necessarily people going to jail over these issues… I think it’s a discussion I’m open to having.”

DiSanto, during his interview, stated that he feels that “ultimately marijuana should be legalized for recreational use in small amounts… The amount of money that’s spent policing this and jailing people for something that’s not a gateway drug really is not the best use of taxpayer dollars.”