Pennsylvania legislature is ready to take the first concrete step toward legalizing recreational marijuana in the state, writes Jan Murphy for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

A hearing in the Senate Law & Justice Committee scheduled for Feb. 7 will be the first time that a legislative committee in the General Assembly has vetted this often-polarizing issue, even though legislation to legalize or decriminalize marijuana has been around for a while.

This will be the first in a series of hearings on the subject. Committee Chairman Mike Regan has invited both representatives from law enforcement and the criminal justice arena to share their opinions on the issue.

“We have some expert panelists that will be testifying, and I am looking forward to the hearing,” Regan said. “It’s not going to be all one-sided. It’s going to be based on their broad experience in law enforcement on the federal, state, and local levels.”

In future hearings, the committee will hear from regulators and operators from states that have already legalized recreational cannabis and advocacy groups on either side of the issue.

Regan, who is a Republican, and Philadelphia Democratic Rep. Amen Brown are working on legislation that would end the prohibition on recreational marijuana.

Read more about the issue in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.