Pennsylvania is still trying to catch up with a number of marijuana-related initiatives, but this Chester County municipality is ahead of the game, writes Eric Scicchitano for The Tribune-Democrat. 

Other than working on potential legalization, legislators have submitted several proposals to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate that go beyond that issue. 

For example, Sen. Camera Bartolotta filed Senate Bill 363 in hopes of revamping the commonwealth’s impaired driving laws. Instead of the mere presence of any amount of marijuana in one’s system, her proposal would require proof of intoxication. 

Others, however, are looking to penalize officials in municipalities that have decriminalized marijuana. Phoenixville is among 14 municipalities in Pennsylvania to decriminalize the drug. In these municipalities, possession of around one ounce or less of marijuana is punished by citations and fines from $25 to $100. 

State Rep. Tim Bonner is hoping to change that. He has circulated a legislative memo in search of support for a bill that would charge officials in these municipalities with first-degree misdemeanors in case their actions lead police to not enforce the existing state law. 

Read more about the initiative in The Tribune-Democrat. 

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