“Legalization alone does not guarantee a competitive market, and simply allowing existing companies to serve more customers would fall short of what Pennsylvania needs.”
By Gabe Perlow, Tri-Mountain Pure
Under Governor Josh Shapiro’s (D) leadership, we have just achieved something that hasn’t happened since the early 1990s here in Pennsylvania. The Senate has flipped to a majority for the Democrats, which gives the party a governing trifecta in the commonwealth. There is no better time to pass adult-use cannabis legislation in Pennsylvania than right now.
If Pennsylvania lawmakers are concerned about who owns the retail cannabis businesses around the commonwealth, then they should pass adult-use legalization that gives more entrepreneurs a chance to compete.
A recent article reporting that six companies operate more than half of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana dispensaries raises a legitimate question about the industry’s future. We should want a market where Pennsylvania businesses can start, grow and succeed. But leaving the current system in place will not create that opportunity. A carefully designed adult-use law can.
I have experience in Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program as a founder who sold a business and an entrepreneur who came back to build another company.
I helped build PurePenn in Pennsylvania, one of the first twelve grower/processor permittees, and later transitioned that business to Trulieve’s management. I subsequently returned to the commonwealth’s medical program with a grower-processor operation that has now been operating for approximately six months.
Today, our products are available in nearly all Pennsylvania dispensaries. They are there because we make good products that patients want to buy.
That experience matters to this debate. The name above a dispensary’s door does not tell the whole story of the businesses represented on its shelves. A store operated by a national company can also be an important customer for a Pennsylvania producer. Retail ownership and opportunity for independent brands are related questions, but they are not the same question.
Our experience shows that independent producers can earn a place in this market. It does not mean that getting started is easy, that every producer has the same experience or that lawmakers should ignore concentration. It means the conversation needs to include the relationships that allow local businesses to reach patients.
I also understand that my own successful exit gave me experience and resources that many aspiring entrepreneurs do not have. The next Pennsylvania founder should not need to have sold a cannabis company already to have a realistic chance of building one.
That is a reason to change the law.
A medical-only system limits the customers licensed businesses can serve. It also leaves entrepreneurs dependent on the opportunities available within that system. Delaying adult-use legalization preserves those constraints while doing little to address the concerns raised in the article.
Opening a regulated market to adults 21 and older would create a larger potential customer base for Pennsylvania businesses. For an independent grower or processor, more potential customers can support investment in employees, production and new products. For a prospective business owner, a new licensing pathway can turn an idea into an opportunity.
Those benefits require deliberate choices. Legalization alone does not guarantee a competitive market, and simply allowing existing companies to serve more customers would fall short of what Pennsylvania needs.
Lawmakers should build a framework that allows qualified existing operators to launch adult-use sales while establishing clear, timely pathways for new businesses. Application requirements and fees should reflect the size and scope of the operation. Smaller entrepreneurs should have a practical route into cultivation, manufacturing and retail, with meaningful support for applicants from communities harmed by cannabis prohibition.
Independent producers also need a fair chance to reach consumers. Regulators should scrutinize conduct that improperly blocks competing products from retail shelves. Businesses should win shelf space through quality, reliability and customer demand.
Pennsylvania must protect medical patients through the transition. Their access to appropriate products, professional guidance and affordable medicine should remain a priority as adult-use sales begin. A larger market should strengthen the medical program and preserve the reasons patients rely on it.
The commonwealth should pair legalization with enforceable testing, accurate labeling, age verification and responsible packaging. Taxes should support public needs while allowing the regulated market to compete for customers who currently purchase outside it. Revenue should also help deliver expungement and investment in communities affected by past enforcement.
These are decisions lawmakers can make in legislation. None becomes easier by postponing the work.
I have invested in Pennsylvania cannabis twice because I believe there is room here for people who know how to build a business and make products customers value. Our recent experience gives me confidence in Pennsylvania entrepreneurs. It also reinforces how much more opportunity a broader, well-regulated market could provide.
The General Assembly should take concerns about concentration seriously and use them to shape an adult-use bill that expands participation.
Pennsylvania’s next cannabis success story should have a clearer path to getting started. Lawmakers should pass adult-use legalization and create that path. The governor said it best—“It’s time to get shit done”—and for the first time in a long time he has a House and Senate that can work with him as allies not adversaries to make it happen.
Gabe Perlow helped build PurePenn, which was later sold to Trulieve, and has returned to Pennsylvania’s cannabis industry as a principal and operator of Tri-Mountain Pure.
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