Скачать или смотреть Recreational Marijuana Discussion in Northeast Philly

Lt. Governor John Fetterman visited Northeast High School this afternoon, as part of his statewide listening tour. He came to hear what locals had to say about the legalization of recreational marijuana.

Nearly 40 Northeast Philadelphia residents participated, and over a dozen spoke out during the open-mic meeting.

One of them was Wendy Damario, who said her teenage son Christopher relies on medical marijuana for help with autism and other behavioral disorders. She said that while Christopher has medical conditions that lead him to be prescribed medicinal marijuana, other teenagers should be allowed marijuana for recreational use.

“It needs to be legalized,” Damario said. “Everybody needs to have a chance. Us parents, us caregivers, need to have a chance and hope in knowing that these children could walk down the street with a vape pen if they need to. If they feel frustrated without us.”

Northeast resident Bee Friedman said that she had always been in favor of medical marijuana, but she does not support the legalization of its recreational use.

“I am concerned about drugs in general,” Friedman said. “If we legalize marijuana for everyone, we may be unleashing some genie that we don’t really need to unleash. I just don’t think it’s been studied enough to know how to do it and whether it’s even advisable.”

She also said she is concerned about people driving while using marijuana.

Northeast Philadelphia resident Bill Scicchitano said he is against the recreational use of marijuana and also is not convinced of its medicinal benefits.

“On one hand, you’re telling people to stay away from drugs,” he said. “And on the other hand, you want to legalize marijuana. I think it’s a gateway drug. I think it’s gonna lead to a lot of problems in this society.”

On the other side of the discussion, Terrie Connors said she does not see a reason for limiting marijuana usage to patients with a medical diagnosis.

“It shouldn’t be just for the medical people,” she said. “For example, I can’t eat. It gives me an appetite sometimes.”

Northeast resident Reuben Coates said he also experiences appetite loss and finds help in using marijuana. He spoke out in favor of legalizing recreational use and said that a large part of the population is misinformed about the effects of cannabis on the human body.

“We hear what other people feel about it, without actually researching what it is,” he said. “It’s not a drug. It’s classified as a drug, which is very different.”

His son, Jahlil Coates, said he witnessed some of his fellow students taking pills such as Xanax when he attended Northeast High School three years ago. He said he remembers them falling out of their chairs under the influence of strong pain killers.

“It kind of makes me start to wonder why these pills are legal, while this plant is super illegal,” Coates said. “We all can go to jail for having this plant, while these pills are really hurting people. I know that didn’t graduate. I know people that are in jail, and I know people that are dead now because of pills. I don’t know anyone who died from weed. I know people fall asleep for a long time, but not die.”

After everyone who wished to speak out had their turn, Lt. Governor Fetterman called for a show of hands of all in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana use. More than half of the people in the room raised their hands. When he asked for those against the legalization to raise their hands, only a couple of participants raised their hands. A few raised their hands as undecided.

Lt. Governor Fetterman has visited all 67 of the Pennsylvania counties with his listening tour on this topic. Philadelphia was his last stop. After listening to the residents of the Northeast area, he headed to do the same at Temple University and Furness High School.