Poll: Pennsylvanians across party lines support a regulated cannabis marketplace

A new poll finds that the majority of Pennsylvania voters support creating a legal framework to oversee cannabis regulation in the commonwealth. 

The survey, conducted by Susquehanna Polling & Research, found a consensus when it comes to cannabis: likely voters want greater oversight of the cannabis industry and related products. 

The poll, taken among likely voters in the commonwealth, found that 69% support the regulation and taxation of cannabis for adults 21 and over, with broad bipartisan backing. It also found that support increases to 72% when paired with strong safety standards, including product testing and protections to prevent youth access, and that 89% of likely voters support restricting unregulated intoxicating THC products – including Delta-8 – to licensed, state-regulated businesses and removing them from gas stations and convenience stores. 

This comes as lawmakers in Philadelphia are weighing a proposal to crack down on what City Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson calls “intoxicating substances” commonly sold in smoke shops and corner stores. 

Bipartisan efforts to regulate cannabis in the commonwealth aren’t new. Republican State Sen. Dan Laughlin introduced one such proposal, backed by both Democrats and Republicans in the state Senate, that would establish a Cannabis Control Board to oversee regulation, taxation and consumer protection within the state. 

The legislation, Senate Bill 49, previously passed out of the chamber’s Law & Justice Committee, but hasn’t received any subsequent attention. Specifically, the bill would establish a CCB to provide oversight over state-regulated cannabis programs, ban several hemp-derived products that are currently unregulated and create consumer protections against untested products. 

And in Philadelphia, Richardson’s legislation would allow stronger enforcement against the sale of kratom and other hemp-derived products and landlords who continue selling the products after receiving a warning from the city – mirroring the illegal smoke shop accountability measure used in New York City.

“Pennsylvanians are sending a clear message: they want a system that is safe, regulated, and responsible,” Meredith Buettner Schneider, executive director of Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, said in a statement. “Right now, intoxicating THC products are being sold with little oversight, often in places that lack proper safeguards. That is unacceptable. This polling shows strong support for policies like SB 49 that would eliminate the unregulated hemp intoxicant market and provide much-needed consumer protections.”

Laughlin, who’s expressed support for adult-use cannabis legalization in the past, has said there’s a need for broader oversight and for legal clarification regarding the hemp-derived products. 

“Pennsylvania can’t allow dangerous, intoxicating hemp products to slip through regulatory loopholes,” Laughlin said in a statement regarding an amendment to SB 49. “This amendment aligns our law with the new federal standards and gives law enforcement the clarity they need to remove these harmful products from the marketplace.”