Pennsylvania’s new Lt. Gov. John Fetterman received his first assignment: Take the pulse of Pennsylvanians about where they stand on the issue of legalizing marijuana.

At their first news conference since their Jan. 15 inauguration, Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday joined with Fetterman in announcing he is sending the lieutenant governor on a 67-county listening tour. Fetterman will gather input on the pros and cons of Pennsylvania allowing adults to use marijuana for recreational purposes.

Fetterman plans to start his tour in mid-February and complete it over a three-month period, working these town hall-style conversations with the public around his other lieutenant governor duties.

Wolf and Fetterman both said they are launching this endeavor with no predetermined conclusion. Rather, they said they are fully aware that this issue is gaining momentum elsewhere in the country, including two of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states.

In New York and New Jersey, governors there have made strong statements about legalizing recreational cannabis in their states sometime this year.

“We are trying to keep our ears and eyes open. We’re trying to understand what’s happening out there. We’re not going to make the same mistake that our predecessors made when it came to the opioid epidemic,” Wolf said.

With that epidemic, he said, “We wait until people were dying in the thousands before we do something. We’re actually trying to figure out what is going on. What should we know, what can we learn. This is a listening tour.”

He pointed out just in the Capitol Complex alone views on this issue vary widely. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is calling for legalizing recreational marijuana and some Democratic lawmakers are planning to introduce legislation that would achieve that goal. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, calls it reckless and irresponsible to consider such a move.

“There’s no lack of people who have ideas as to what ought to happen. We just need to listen to them," Wolf said. "That’s what the lieutenant governor is going to do.”

Fetterman, a supporter of legalizing marijuana, said Pennsylvania is a diverse state with differing opinions and considers these visits to counties across the state as the responsible way to gauge where people are on this issue. Polls have shown growing support for legalizing marijuana with the passage of time.

The new lieutenant governor applauded Wolf for handling this controversial issue in this way. Fetterman said it is a testament to the governor’s “openness to really getting the truth and getting to the answer as to where we are as a commonwealth.”

Wolf first signaled his interest in exploring this issue more closely in December in a comment made while answering questions from the public on Twitter.

That ignited a firestorm that Wolf later tamped down saying he was just being a realist about the issue given neighboring states’ interest in liberalizing their policies on it. So far, 10 states have legalized recreational use of marijuana: Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada, California, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and Michigan.

For Wolf, his decision to advance this issue to the point of having Fetterman launch a public dialogue about the issue goes beyond what he told PennLive/The Patriot-News' editorial board in October when he was campaigning for a second term of office.

Back then, he said, “At this point I’m not ready to sign or promote legislation that legalizes it.” He also said he thought it would be prudent to wait and see what the experiences are in the other states that have legalized it, including how it was taxed and regulated.

“I think we can learn a lot from that,” he said.

On Thursday, Wolf said he didn’t see his interest in exploring the issue as a change in his position but rather a demonstration that he is unwilling to duck his head in the sand as to what’s happening outside of Pennsylvania.

Fetterman said in addition to his town hall meetings, he will be establishing a webpage to accept online comments about legalizing recreational marijuana.

“We want to make sure everyone feels heard and invested in this process,” Fetterman said.