April 20, or 420, has become the unofficial marijuana smoking holiday — a date that rose to popularity with weed smokers for its connection to 4:20 p.m., a convenient time when pot smoking pioneers once gathered to toke up in the 1970s.

Nearly 50 years later, recreational marijuana use has been legalized in 10 states across the United States, as well as Washington D.C.

Pennsylvania isn’t among them, but maybe it someday could be.

Late last year, state Gov. Tom Wolf said “it is time for Pennsylvania to take a serious and honest look at recreational marijuana.”

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman this year embarked on a listening tour, in which he intends to visit all of state’s 67 counties to gather information from Pennsylvanians, who both support and oppose recreational legalization.

According to a poll released last month by Franklin & Marshall College, a majority of Pennsylvania voters, 59 percent, agree that recreational marijuana use should be permitted. A PennLive story about the poll explains the support is a drastic shift since 2006, when only 22 percent of registered voters were in favor of marijuana legalization.

The poll showed that support was the strongest among younger voters, with 80 percent of those younger than 35 in favor of legalization.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, with state Rep. Patty Kim, D-Harrisburg, kicks off his statewide listening tour to gauge Pennsylvanians' interest in legalizing marijuana, with a first stop at the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg, February 11, 2019. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comPENNLIVE.COM

Even though recreational marijuana use is not yet a reality in Pennsylvania, cities across the state have been taking steps to reduce penalties for pot possession. And many have been doing so for several years at this point.

In 2016, Harrisburg officials approved a new law, becoming the third Pennsylvania city to reduce penalties for possession of a small amount of marijuana.

The decision, which came after months of public meetings, reduced the penalty for possession a small amount of marijuana to a summary offense, the same as a traffic violation. Small-amount possession offenses now come with fines of $75 to $150.

Still, the new law allows for a misdemeanor charge in cases of repeat offenders, PennLive reported.

Harrisburg was preceded in decriminalization by Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and since 2016, decriminalization also was implemented in places like State College, Lancaster, and most recently, Steelton.

Other communities have been less receptive. Perry County’s Landisburg is among them, according to a March report from the Perry County Times.

On March 11, members of the Landisburg Borough Council gave the OK to an ordinance that bans businesses from producing or selling marijuana within the municipality.

According to the Perry County Times, the ordinance does not prohibit the use of medical marijuana in the borough.

Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program was signed into law in 2016, allowing permits for companies to both grow and distribute marijuana as a medicine in the state, as well as licenses for those with qualifying ailments to use it.

File photo of display case at Organic Remedies Dispensary in Cumberland County, Pa. shows some of the forms of medical marijuana. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com HARHAR

In 2018, the state pulled in more than $1 million dollars via a 5 percent gross receipts tax on medical marijuana companies, as well as related income tax and licensing fees, according to the Department of Revenue. That was up from $291,000 in 2017, PennLive reported.

Even more revenue — possibly a half-billion dollars — could be generated if marijuana was recreationally legalized and taxed at 35 percent, according to an analysis made public by state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale last year.

That analysis claimed that there were about 800,000 regular marijuana users in the state, who each spent an average of $2,100 per year on the drug, according to the Associated Press.

Looking to make recreational marijuana a reality in Pennsylvania, bills proposing legalization have been introduced, including recently.

In February, state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Pittsburgh reintroduced a bill that would legalize marijuana use for people 21 and older.

Under the plan, tax revenue from marijuana would be used to support affordable housing, after-school programs and student debt forgiveness.

A similar plan exists in the state Senate, according to the PhillyVoice, which reported that Sens. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, and Sharif Street, D-Philadelphia, have cultivated a proposal for recreational legalization that would use related revenue mostly to subsidize public education.

The idea of recreational legalization was met with less fanfare earlier this month at the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, an annual gathering of conservatives.

There, Colorado-based recreational marijuana opponent Luke Niforatos, talked about the consequences of legalization, including increased use among children.

And last year, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre County, referred the push for recreational legalization “reckless and irresponsible," calling marijuana a gateway to other more dangerous drugs, according to an article by PA Post.

The same story makes note of Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County, once a medical marijuana proponent, who has since expressed concerns about recreational legalization, specifically what its effect could be on medical marijuana research.

"There’s several unanswered questions that I have about it,” Folmer said, according to the article. “We don’t know enough about it. What I want is for Pennsylvania to be a leader in research because we’ll start understanding this plant better.”