Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana bill has potentially been thrown into limbo as it returns to the Senate for approval before heading to Gov. Tom Wolf for a final signature, the Cental Penn Business Journal reports.
The bill originated more than year ago in the Pennsylvania Senate, but ultimately underwent serious changes during its time being discussed in the House of Representatives, and the bill now returning to the Senate is a completely different beast.
Senators are left with two choices: they can approve the legislation and send it to Gov. Wolf, who has promised to sign any MMJ law put before him, or they can make adjustments and send the bill back to the House for reconsideration.
The second option, advocates worry, could ultimately lead to the bill’s death. Though the law recently passed through the House with a vote of 149-43, it was an arduous and hard-fought battle bringing the bill to a vote. If the Senate were to make additional changes, it could be another year before the House would be ready to cast its approval again.
Even if the Senate approves the law this session, a fully-functional Pennsylvania medical marijuana program would probably not exist until 2018.