April 7, 2026Updated April 22, 2026, 6:21 a.m. ET
- Pennsylvania residents are crossing state lines into New York and Ohio to purchase legal recreational marijuana.
- Advocates for legalization in Pennsylvania point to the significant tax revenue being lost to those and other neighboring states.
- Projections show Pennsylvania could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in annual tax revenue if it legalized cannabis.
FINDLEY LAKE, New York — A few miles on the New York side of the border with Pennsylvania, the parking lot of Organic Blooms begins to fill with cars as a Friday afternoon in February inches closer to the weekend.
Half the vehicles are from New York. The other half bear Keystone State plates.
Sherry Warner discovered the recreational marijuana dispensary when she saw a billboard for the five-month-old store on her way to work in Jamestown, New York, from her home in Erie. Ever since, Warner’s been going there for THC-infused gummies and vapes.
“I pulled in to see what it was all about,” said Warner, who had been traveling to dispensaries on the Seneca Nation’s Allegany Reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York, before finding the shop on Route 426. “And I love it. It’s close to home. I love the quality of their stuff and they’re really nice people.”
Warner hopes she’ll some day be able to buy from a shop even closer to her Erie residence.
“It needs to be passed,” she said of the status of recreational marijuana legalization. “It’s going to help a lot of people. It helps me, so it’s going to help them.”
Since Organic Blooms’ opening on Sept. 24, 2025, nearly half of its sales have come from residents of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Ohio opened its first dispensaries 18 in 2024 following the passage of a 2023 ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.
Pennsylvania remains a holdout.
With all but one neighboring state having legalized recreational marijuana for adult-use (the exception being West Virginia), proponents often point to the revenue these states rake in from their own residents — and visitors from Pennsylvania — to push the case for legalization.
New York generated $155 million in tax revenue in its first full fiscal year of legalization, 2024-25, while Ohio saw tax proceeds of $56 million in the same period. New Jersey and Maryland saw tax revenues of $77 million and $72 million, respectively.
“What if Pennsylvania doesn’t act?” asked Monica McCafferty, spokesperson Responsible PA, a group advocating for legalization. “Pennsylvania will continue to lose economic activity to neighboring states that have those regulated markets. Residents will keep crossing state lines to purchase legal cannabis, and those states will collect the tax revenues. So our message to lawmakers is, ‘please act.'”
Pennsylvania’s potential recreational marijuana revenue
In a report released in February, Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office projects revenue of $140 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year, increasing to $432 million by 2030-2031.
The Independent Fiscal Office’s projections are based on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s latest budget proposal, which calls for licenses for the production and sale of marijuana to be awarded starting July 1, with sales starting Jan. 1, 2027.
Revenue comes from licensing and other fees, Shapiro’s proposed 20% wholesale tax and the state’s 6% retail sales tax. The Independent Fiscal Office based its projections on sales in other states, primarily Michigan because of its similar demographics.
Shapiro’s office projects a much higher first-year total: $729.4 million, of which $659.6 million comes from one-time licensing fees, while another $73.8 million comes from wholesale and retail sales taxes. Licensing fees include a $25 million charge to current medical marijuana dispensaries that opt to sell both medical and recreational marijuana, which is much higher than other states charge.
Shapiro’s budget, however, has a lower long-term revenue projection at $200 million annually.
Responsible PA also projects a higher first-year revenue total compared to the Independent Fiscal Office. It says the state could see $420 million in tax revenue in the first full year of legalization from an estimated $2.1 billion in sales. Prepared by FTI Consulting, the analysis also shows that the state would see $4.2 billion in total economic output and 33,000 new jobs.
“They’re good-paying jobs,” McCafferty said. “We also have another analysis that shows based on likely locations that rural Pennsylvania will benefit from job creation. This isn’t a Pittsburgh thing. This isn’t a Philly thing. This is a statewide thing in terms of where the jobs could be created — good-paying jobs, jobs that come with benefits. And I think that’s what a lot of people think, that maybe this is a Pittsburgh or Philly thing, but this is all of Pennsylvania.”
Nationwide, the average annual salary within the industry was $84,057, with jobs in Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana industry in line at $84,258, according to ZipRecruiter.
The online job search platform found that entry-level positions in the industry range from $28,100 annually, or $13.51 an hour, in North Carolina, to $39,729 annually, or $19.10 an hour, in New York.
Where recreational marijuana policy stands in Pa.
But projections mean nothing unless Pennsylvania lawmakers act on legalization, which a majority of Pennsylvanians support.
A recent Quinnipiac University poll, for example, found that 56% of respondents support legalizing recreational marijuana, including 72% of Democrats and 63% of independents, but only 32% of Republicans back it.
Last year saw the most legislative movement on efforts toward legalization in the General Assembly. House Democrats passed a bill that would have run marijuana sales through a state-store model similar to what’s used for liquor sales. But state Sen. Dan Laughlin, who was the first sitting Republican lawmaker in Pennsylvania to come out in favor of legalization, killed the legislation in the upper chamber.
Laughlin, of Erie, and Sen. Sharif Street, a Philadelphia Democrat, have been pushing a bill of their own in recent years, but it’s not moved out of committee.
“There’s still some folks in conservative districts that are cautious to support something like adult-use cannabis,” Laughlin said.
While there is broad consensus among Democrats for legalization, including to explore paths beyond a state-store model, several Republican lawmakers remain opposed or noncommittal on the grounds that it would, they believe, adversely affect the health of Pennsylvanians; lead to increased use among teenagers; drive up crime, and come with a greater societal cost for the state than it would reap in revenue.
“As Pennsylvania continues to grapple with the devastating opioid and heroin epidemics, the last thing we need is to introduce another substance that will exacerbate our public health crisis,” Republican state Rep. Marla Brown, of Lawrence County, said in 2025.
In a statement, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman told the USA Today Network he believes 2025’s House bill took efforts in the wrong direction
“I continue to believe this is an issue which the federal government needs to provide consistent policy on, rather than states engaging in piecemeal approaches that do not comport with current federal law,” Pittman said in his March 30 statement. “Last May, Pennsylvania House Democrats took a massive step backward in this debate by sending us such an unserious recreational marijuana legalization proposal.”
Laughlin and Street are now proposing Senate Bill 49, which would establish the Pennsylvania Cannabis Control Board and move oversight of the medical marijuana program out of the Pennsylvania Health Department. The board would also be charged with overseeing hemp-derived products and other currently unregulated products.
An amendment to the bill mirrors a change to federal law, which closed a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that allowed intoxicating hemp products to flood the market.
While the bill has no effect on the legal status of adult-use cannabis, Laughlin believes that having already established a Cannabis Control Board would help legalization efforts.
Laughlin called the bill a “first step that needs to happen before we do anything further on the recreational side.”
“My goal is to run a clean bill that creates the control board,” he said. “We have a responsible, conservative approach to regulating all things cannabis, whether that be the medical program, or in the future, if we do add recreational we’ll already have a board set up to deal with it.”
Pa. adult-use legalization prospects for 2026
President Donald Trump helped proponents of legalization in late 2025 when he signed an executive order that asks the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration to speed up the reclassification of marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III substance under the Controlled Substances Act. Doing so formally acknowledges that marijuana has a medical use and is less likely to be abused than a drug like heroin, LSD or ecstasy.
And in Pennsylvania, McCafferty believes 2026 could be different for state lawmakers after 2025’s 135-day budget impasse and as the state grapples with deficit spending, choosing instead to tap its rainy-day fund than raise taxes, close tax loopholes or cut safety net programs.
“There is consensus that people don’t want a repeat of the 2025 budget impasse,” McCafferty said. “This year could be that different year. We know that with revenue in Pennsylvania the demand is there.
“We know Pennsylvanians are driving out of state to buy legal cannabis,” she continued. “What we’ve been doing with lawmakers is really educating them on facing that reality that legalization is about regulating a product people already use.”
The cannabis industry spent $1.6 million in 2024 lobbying state lawmakers, according to an analysis by Spotlight PA.
‘They might as well get the revenue’
People like Erie County residents Frank Fisher of Harborcreek Township and Ali Petroff of North East.
Fisher, 45, ditched his state-issued medical marijuana card and started driving to the Italian Herb Dispensary in Ashtabula, Ohio, until he learned about Organic Blooms from Facebook.
Fisher was paying more than $200 to have his medical marijuana license renewed, which includes the $50 fee charged by the state plus the medical evaluation fee, which varies by provider.
“I’m a disabled veteran,” he said. “I don’t need to give you (the state) more money. I don’t take meds. I don’t drink. I don’t do anything else. I shouldn’t be punished.”
One year, he said, the state forgot to send him his medical ID card, then sent him one that didn’t work.
With dispensaries now bordering Erie County to the east and west, Fisher said, “I don’t see the point” of holding a medical license anymore.
Petroff, 31, recently returned to Pennsylvania after living in Canton, Ohio. Since her return, she, like Fisher, had been driving to Ashtabula to buy cannabis products. Then she heard about Organic Blooms from a relative. She placed the dispensary’s first online order, in fact.
Petroff said if Pennsylvania doesn’t legalize marijuana it won’t bother her. She’ll just continue to buy from Organic Blooms, which is a 10-minute drive away.
“A great company is a great company,” she said. “If it’s across state lines, that’s what it is.
“They should, though,” Petroff added, “if they want to open stuff and make Pennsylvania better for the people that will travel elsewhere for products. They might as well get the revenue.”
Long road to dispensary opening
Michelle Brumagin, who co-owns and operates Organic Blooms, worked with co-owner Kerry Mulkearn on opening the business for more than three years.
It has not always been easy.
The process was lengthy, in large part because the new law established New York’s Office of Cannabis Management, which was tasked with creating an application process, licensing regulations and other policies and guidelines for this new industry.
In fact, Organic Blooms’ owners and three other dispensaries filed a lawsuit against the New York Cannabis Control Board in 2024 over the licensing process. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs contended that the law’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary provision was unfair and illegal. The provision was crafted to prioritize licensing for justice-impacted applicants — people convicted of a marijuana-related crime before legalization who wanted to enter the new industry — over standard applicants. Issues with the rollout of the law put them at a disadvantage.
Though Organic Blooms’ license was eventually issued before the lawsuit was resolved, the other plaintiffs eventually prevailed in court.
Brumagin called the state’s regulations “stringent but workable” and said her staff has paid “meticulous attention” to details of the new law, including daily reporting requirements.
Since opening, sales have skyrocketed by 75%, from 1,200 transactions in October 2025, the first full month of operations, to 2,100 in January 2026.
Brumagin worked in the medical field as a prior-authorization specialist and as a part-time hairstylist before going into dispensary business. She and her husband bought an equal stake in the property from Mulkearn and her husband.
“They were just sitting on it, so we bought half of it from them,” Brumagin said. “(Marijuana) went legal and we had the property.”
It wasn’t a field she knew much about.
“I wasn’t a cannabis user three years ago,” she said. “I was a mom and that was not my thing at all. So I’m trying (products) now because I feel like I can’t sell it if I don’t try it.
“It really does help people more than you think,” Brumagin said. “I mean, yeah, there are those stoners that come in here and they’re just about getting messed up, but for 90% of customers, I would say it’s for sleep, it’s for pain.”
Brumagin said it was also a way to give back, since 75% of the revenue from the retail tax on dispensaries returns to the local community, Mina Township, with the other 25% going to Chautauqua County. New York law also requires a portion of Organic Bloom’s profits to help support local nonprofits.
“We are already generating enough income to start evaluating which projects to support that will have a positive impact on our community,” she said.
Evolving adult-use cannabis laws in neighboring states
Both New York and Ohio have made changes to their adult-use cannabis laws since their enactments.
Ohio’s S.B. 56, signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine in December 2025, took effect March 20, for example.
It makes several changes to state law, including lowering the percentage of THC levels in extracts from 90% to 70%; making it illegal to smoke or vape marijuana in public; allowing employers to fire workers for off-duty marijuana consumption, and letting landlords prohibit smoking and vaping of marijuana in lease agreements.
Most notable is that the law bans possession of marijuana products purchased legally in other states, like neighboring Michigan, and brought back to Ohio.
In New York, the Cannabis Control Board enacted stricter provisions for packaging, labeling, marketing and advertising of adult-use marijuana, including banning licensed dispensaries from advertising on billboards. The law took effective Feb. 24.
Billboards for New York’s dispensaries have been popping up in Pennsylvania, despite recreational marijuana remaining illegal there. For example, Organic Blooms has been marketing itself on digital billboards in Erie — along Interstate 90 and just south of the Millcreek Mall near the nexus of I-90 and Interstate 79. Another dispensary, Buzz WNY, which is located in Jamestown, until recently had a billboard advertisement on Route 20 in North East, the Erie County community on the Pennsylvania border with New York.
Buzz WNY owner Lance Weinert, who opened the dispensary on Dec. 20, 2025, said he’s adjusted his marketing approach to stay compliant with New York law. The dispensary had invested in a marketing campaign before the law changed. Placing the billboard in Pennsylvania was “a practical way to utilize that existing investment while still reaching an audience that we know is already making the trip.
“We’ve definitely seen strong interest from customers coming over from Pennsylvania, particularly from areas like North East and Erie County,” Weinert said. “Being located in Jamestown, we’re within a reasonable drive for a lot of (Pennsylvania) residents who currently don’t have access to a fully legal adult-use market in their state. That demand has been consistent since we opened.”
Despite the potential loss of revenue they’re now getting from Pennsylvania customers, both Weinert and Brumagin want the Keystone state to legalize marijuana.
“I want more than anything to see Pennsylvania go recreational,” said Weinert, who said he would open a shop in Warren if it does.
“I don’t feel threatened by it,” Brumagin said. “It wouldn’t hurt business. We have a pretty good following.”
Matthew Rink is a USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania investigative journalist.
Author: MScannaBIZ
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