The Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board recently debated and voted on what, at least to the ears of a stoner, sounds like a waste of taxpayer money: whether edibles are legal based on whether you chomp, swallow, or let it sit (no sexual jokes are included in this article). 

In Pennsylvania, the legality of edibles all comes down to how much you chew it, basically rendering rules down to the movement of one’s teeth and the amount of spit present.  

Cannabis that dissolves in the mouth is deemed legal, but if it’s designed to be chewed, then you’re in trouble. 

While pills, oils, tinctures, and extracts infused with cannabis are considered legal in the state, chewable forms are not. So, basically, a sublingual tincture is fine, but a nice chewy gummy is not. What comes to mind when you read the word “edible,” such as chocolates, are illegal. If it can pass as a tincture, it’s allowed. 

The seemingly minor but apparently quite important issue was raised by board member and patient advocate Diana Briggs, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Briggs brought it up over concern regarding a newer cannabis-infused product called a troche, pronounced “TROW-key,” which she said one could find across Pennsylvania dispensaries. She said they were “like a cough drop, some are hard, some are softer.” Troche flavors include the typical range, such as pineapple, raspberry, lemon, and strawberry. Apparently, these are causing confusion because no one can figure out if they count as an edible or dissolvable. 

“These troches are here, and they’ve been here for a year. These look very much like what I’ve bought in other states as an edible,” Briggs says. 

Pennsylvainia could do away with the red tape and confusion by amending the laws to include edibles. 

But before Pennsylvania gets there, the companies that produce and sell troches are quick to assert that their products do not count as edibles. For instance, Vytal Options operates medical marijuana dispensaries in Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Lansdale. They’re one of the first to offer troches to Pennsylvania, as reminded by CEO Tom Trite. The company describes their troches as gelatin-based, slightly firmer in texture than Jello, and explicitly designed to dissolve either under the tongue or between the cheek and gum, making them legal under current law. 

Trite, a pharmacist, continues: “They are not edibles.” He further explained that, for some individuals, the effects of troches can come on even more swiftly than those associated with vaping. To emphasize the distinction, he pointed out, “The issue with gummies is that they are easily chewable.” 

While legalizing edibles would allow everyone to use their energy for anything else other than bicker over chewing, authorities aren’t ready to drop this just yet. 

Sharing his apprehensions and falling back on the safe narrative of concern over children’s safety, Royce Engler, the Chief of Police in Wright Township and a board member, expressed concerns about edibles getting into the hands of kids. 

“We have reservations about endorsing edibles, as they might end up in the wrong hands,” he said. “And honestly, users often do not store their product in the packaging in which they purchased it. It might be against the law, but it’s a common occurrence on a daily basis,” Engler added.

Generally, most cannabis users would agree that the argument about kids thinking edibles are candy and eating a truckload is an overplayed danger weaponized by social conservatives. Unfortunately, sometimes it does happen, like this five-year-old who ate Delta-8 edibles last Halloween, although that does prove that even if you criminalize Delta-9, the kids are never entirely safe. Boo. 

In the final tally, the motion to propose amendments to the law fell short of the necessary support, resulting in six abstentions, three dissenting votes, and two affirmative votes. 

In July, two Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 846 to legalize adult-use cannabis. The bill currently waits for review from the Senate Law and Justice Committee for further deliberation. 

Additionally, along with other medical marijuana reform, a bill from Republican Senator Dan Laughlin, Senate Bill 538, would also legalize cannabis edibles for use by medical marijuana patients. It also requires edibles to be tested for safety and potency, and ensures that packaging protects it from children. 

Laughlin said he was prompted to draft the legislation after learning that residents of his district were visiting a nearby Indian reservation in New York to get their edibles. 

“Constituents drive up there and, quite frankly, I don’t know who’s manufacturing those products. I don’t know if they’re being tested for potency or anything really,” Laughlin said. “From my standpoint, passing a bill like this is not only convenience for my medical patients who live in my district but also for their safety.”

The board is set to reconvene in November.

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In Pennsylvania’s second-largest city, advocates are busy working to legalize adult-use cannabis.

Last month, two lawmakers introduced Senate Bill 846 to legalize adult-use cannabis in Pennsylvania. The bill currently waits for review from the Senate Law and Justice Committee for further deliberation. Next Pittsburgh reports that advocates at a local Pittsburgh branch of NORML are gearing up for legalization efforts in the state.

“This is a much bigger issue than just cannabis—it’s about giving people the right to be able to find health and wellness in the way that they want to and to not have to feel like the government will tell them how they’re allowed to heal,” says Gina Vensel, a cannabis educator and advocate in the area. Vensel is also on the executive committee of Pittsburgh NORML, the Pittsburgh branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

SB 846 is a bipartisan effort and was spearheaded by Sens. Daniel Laughlin and Sharif Street. The bill would establish a Cannabis Regulatory Control Board, and allow adults 21 and over to purchase cannabis from retail locations. It would additionally allow medical cannabis cardholders to grow cannabis at home. Lastly it would expunge nonviolent cannabis-related convictions.

“Legalized adult use of marijuana is supported by an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvanians and this legislation accomplishes that while also ensuring safety and social equity,” Laughlin said in a statement. “With neighboring states New Jersey and New York implementing adult use, we have a duty to Pennsylvania taxpayers to legalize adult use marijuana to avoid losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars of new tax revenue and thousands of new jobs.”

Problems Remain in Pittsburgh

High Times reported in 2018 that Solevo Wellness was the city’s first medical dispensary, and is the fourth operating medical cannabis dispensary in the entire state of Pennsylvania. The process of establishing, licensing, and opening Solevo Wellness took about 18 months. The company credits much of their success in obtaining the proper permits to their hired industry consultant, Sara Gullickson.

Pittsburgh, located in Allegheny County, decriminalized cannabis in 2015. Part of the policy shift involved giving law enforcement a choice between arresting people for suspected cannabis offenses or simply giving them a citation. Further downstream the criminal legal system, prosecutors in Pennsylvania’s major cities enacted “decline to prosecute” policies for minor cannabis cases that went to trial.

Despite decriminalization locally, arrests for cannabis increased since Pittsburgh enacted decriminalization policies. Many officers at police departments are having a hard time letting go of the old policy, continuing to arrest rather than ticket suspected offenders.

 Analyzing all the criminal dockets filed in Allegheny County from 2016 to 2017, The Appeal broke down the 2,100-some cases where the top charge was possession of less than 30 grams of cannabis. They also looked at the thousands of arrests for minor possession police made over the same period.

Of the 2,100-plus cannabis-related cases in Allegheny County where the defendant received a misdemeanor possession charge, 51 percent of the people charged were Black. According to the most recent U.S. census data from 2017, 13.4 percent of all Allegheny residents are Black. And the dramatic racial disparity across the county is even more acute in Pittsburgh: Black people were charged in more than 400 of the 600 cases filed by the Pittsburgh Police Department. Black people comprised two-thirds of all cannabis cases in the city, despite representing just 24.3 percent of the city’s population. In other words, Pittsburgh police charged Black people for cannabis twice as much as white people.

The Pittsburgh Pirates and Decriminalization

On a few notable occasions, Pittsburgh Pirate games provided a stage for decriminalization efforts and awareness.

Wiz Khalifa, a Pittsburgh native, is an advocate for both cannabis and psilocybin. He tossed the ceremonial first pitch on Monday at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, prior to a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Guardians. “Finna get stoned af and throw this first pitch at the pirates game,” he tweeted, before following it up with more specifics. “Shroomed out throwin a baseball is crazy,” Wiz said in another tweet moments later.

Former Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis pulled off a pitch on acid as well on June 12, 1970. 

It was on that day that Ellis reputedly threw a no-hitter while tripping on LSD. 

“According to Ellis (and, it should be noted, all of this is according to Ellis), he went to visit a friend in Los Angeles the day before his start, took some acid and stayed up late into the night drinking and doing drugs, subsequently losing track of which day it was,” Sports Illustrated wrote in 2017. “The day of his start, he woke up and, thinking he was supposed to pitch the next day, took another hit of acid at noon, only to learn two hours later from his friend that he was, in fact, supposed to be on the mound against the Padres that evening in San Diego. Ellis got on a plane an hour later and made it to the park 90 minutes before first pitch.”

For the time being, advocates in the city remain busy at work.

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