May 04, 2026
Judy D.J. Ellich/Imagn Images
Stacy Garrity, the Pennsylvania Treasurer and Republican running for governor against Josh Shapiro in November, says she's opposed to the state legalizing recreational marijuana and would veto any bill passed by the legislature.
Republican Stacy Garrity says she would not sign a bill to legalize recreational marijuana if she's elected Pennsylvania's governor in November.
Garrity, who is challenging incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro, came out against recreational cannabis during an interview with NBC10. The state treasurer said she doubts the GOP-controlled Senate will pass a bill.
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"They're never going to pass it," Garrity said. "Not as long as Senate Republicans are in control of the Senate."
Shapiro, long a proponent of marijuana legalization, included projected revenue for adult-use cannabis in his administration's budget proposal this year despite little progress on the issue in Harrisburg. The Shapiro administration projects the state would bring in $729.4 million in the first year after legalizing marijuana, mostly from one-time licensing fees. Beyond the first year, the administration estimates the state would collect $200 million in annual tax revenue.
With the exception of West Virginia, every state bordering Pennsylvania now permits the sale of adult-use cannabis.
"This is big business — and right now, we're losing that revenue to our neighbors," Shapiro, a Democrat, said in March.
Republican support for marijuana legalization has been mixed in recent polls.
About 7 in 10 Pennsylvania voters said they support legalizing recreational marijuana — including 67% of Republicans — in an April poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling & Research. That poll was commissioned by the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, a marijuana industry group.
A Quinnipiac University survey in February found 56% of Pennsylvania voters support marijuana legalization, while 64% of Republicans are against it.
Republican views on cannabis had been trending toward legalization until last year, when just 40% of Americans said they favored legal marijuana in a Gallup poll covering a range of issues. Among Republicans, there was a 13% drop in support for marijuana legalization from 2024 to 2025, the largest decline in more than a decade of Gallup polling.
Garrity, a Bradford County native who has served as state treasurer since 2021, spent three decades in the U.S. Army Reserve before entering politics. As treasurer, she has focused on returning millions of dollars in unclaimed property held by the state over the last five years. President Donald Trump endorsed Garrity's run for governor in January.
During her interview with NBC10's Lauren Mayk, Garrity said Pennsylvania needs a more efficient budget process and must find new revenue sources to address the state's structural deficit.
"We are spending $5 billion more a year than what we bring in, and I think that's what makes it difficult," Garrity said. "We have a spending problem. We need to figure out how to bring more revenue in to the state."
Legislative efforts to legalize recreational marijuana have stalled since Pennsylvania legalized medical marijuana in 2016. Last year, the Democratic-controlled state House of Representatives passed a bill that would have legalized adult-use cannabis to be sold in state liquor stores. The bill was rejected in the Senate Law & Justice Committee and never sent to a vote.
State Sen. Dan Laughlin, an Erie County Republican who supports marijuana legalization and leads the Senate committee that rejected the state store bill, recently told USA Today the legislature needs to agree on a bipartisan bill. Senate Republicans may be unwilling to risk voting for a bill that stands little chance of passing, even if they support marijuana legalization.
"There's people that are willing to vote for this if they know it's going to make it to the governor's desk," Laughlin said. "They don't want to put up a vote that might harm them, politically harm them, if it's for nothing."
For the past several years, Laughlin has cosponsored a bipartisan Senate bill with Democratic Sen. Sharif Street that would legalize adult-use cannabis and pass restorative justice measures for people with past marijuana convictions. Street is now running for U.S. Congress.
"What I would like to see happen is for the House to pass the same language that Senator Street and I have in our bill — just run a companion bill," Laughlin said. "And if they can pass that, then I can go back to my committee members and my caucus and say, look, the House already passed the bill."
Earlier this year, some marijuana legalization advocates said they are skeptical that the legislature will pass a bill in 2026 with the governor's race looming.
Shapiro currently holds a 17-point lead over Garrity in an average of polls tracked by Real Clear Politics. Another Susquehanna Polling & Research poll in April found Shapiro had a 22-point lead and just 5% of voters remained undecided.
