Owlett Says ‘NO’ to Marijuana Legalization

May 7, 2025

HARRISBURG – Citing grave concerns about the impact it would have on the health of children and families throughout the Commonwealth, Rep. Clint Owlett (R-Tioga/Bradford) today cast a resounding “no” vote on a bill to legalize recreational marijuana.

House Bill 1200 would authorize the existing Liquor Control Board (LCB) to regulate and sell recreational marijuana to adults at state-run stores similar to those that sell alcohol. Gov. Josh Shapiro has called for legalization to help fund his proposed $51.47 billion budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.

“The absolute LAST thing we should be doing is sacrificing the health and safety of our children and families to balance the state budget,” Owlett said. “We can cut spending or we can cut the lives of our children short by essentially encouraging the use of this highly addictive drug. The right answer should be obvious to everyone.”

While the governor is anticipating more than $500 million in revenue from marijuana legalization to balance the coming fiscal year budget, Owlett said the math just doesn’t add up.

“It will take far longer than a couple months to get things up and running, and the LCB is estimating it will cost at least $260 million to do so,” Owlett said. “There’s zero chance of generating a half billion dollars in time to fill the hole in the governor’s budget this year, and the amount of marijuana he’d have to sell to meet his spending demands is significant.”

An assessment by More Than 28, a treatment advocacy group, finds Pennsylvania would have to sell more than 25.5 million eighths of pot per year. To put that in perspective, the 10 million Pennsylvanians over age 21 would need to collectively smoke more than 250 million joints per year to reach those levels of revenue. The most likely scenario is a relatively small percentage of the Commonwealth’s population will become daily habitual users, putting their own health and lives at risk.

“It’s downright shameful to exploit people’s struggles to make money,” Owlett said. “I pray the state Senate stops this bill in its tracks and we can move on to develop a state budget that is reasonable, responsible and respectful of the lives of all Pennsylvanians.”


Representative Clint Owlett
68th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives