Allentown City Council supports legalization of marijuana by the Pennsylvania legislature | Local Government

Allentown City Council supports legalization of marijuana by the Pennsylvania legislature

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The Allentown City Council voted 5-2 Wednesday night to adopt a resolution to support the legalization of the recreation use of marijuana in the State of Pennsylvania.

The resolution advocates for the legalization of the use of marijuana by adults, with sales through state-owned stores as proposed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Councilmen Ed Zucal and Daryl L. Hendricks cast dissenting votes without commenting on the resolution.

Council woman Candida Affa introduced the resolution and said she previously sponsored a bill to decriminalize the possession of marijuana in the City of Allentown.

Although the council at the time approved the ordinance, the District Attorney refused to enforce it.

“I owned a bar and one of the worst drugs out there is alcohol,” Affa said. “Marijuana, as far as I’m concerned, is a plant. And one of the things in today’s world is people are dying from smoking pot because they’re lacing it with things like fentanyl. If we legalize this, you wouldn’t have to worry about going out in the streets and getting it and wondering what it’s laced with.”

Several council members suggested the issue of decriminalization be revisited with the District Attorney and the police.

Council woman Cynthia Mota noted that the City of Reading is scheduled to vote on an ordinance to decriminalize marijuana on Monday night.

Mota said she plans on attending the Reading City council meeting.

Affa asked why the police do not enforce the Allentown Law when the City of Bethlehem also adopted such an ordinance and do not treat possession as a misdemeanor but simply issue a citation.

Chief of Police Charles Roca said state law trumps a city ordinance.

“State law is what we have to go by because we swore an oath to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Roca said. 

Councilman Santo Napoli said he believes it is important that the city starts to move in the right direction.

“There’s too many folks that are experiencing barriers to employment to housing and it’s all because of antiquated laws and I think this is an opportunity to help clean some of that up and help the next generation,” Napoli said.