An overwhelming bipartisan majority approved the medical cannabis bill on Tuesday in the Pennsylvania Senate, according to State Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery/Delaware).

Leach, who sponsored Senate Bill 3 from its conception with Senator Mike Fulmer (R-Dauphin/Lebanon/York), was one of 19 Democrats and 21 Republicans who supported the measure, passing it by a 40-7 margin, he said. "Today, the Senate showed it stands with the 88% of Pennsylvanians who support medical cannabis," Leach said in a press release. "A huge, bipartisan majority supported SB3 because it will allow children suffering from devastating seizure disorders, veterans suffering from PTSD, and cancer patients being ravaged by the side effects of chemotherapy, among others, to get the medicine they need."

Under the new bill, Pennsylvania residents would be eligible to be treated with medical cannabis for a wide variety of illnesses, including cancer, epilepsy, seizures, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, chronic pain, diabetes, and many others, according to Leach. "Every day that passes without medical cannabis in Pennsylvania is another day of needless suffering," Leach said in a press release, calling it a "moral issue, not a partisan issue."



Leach has also previously cited the economic opportunity which medical marijuana could present. During a trip to Colorado in July 2014, he noted in an Op-Ed that marijuana growing facilities "employed doctors, medical technicians, mechanical engineers and extensive support staff. The dispensaries employed security, technicians, and even the sales force, known as bud-tenders, had to be highly educated about their products, and thus commanded a very good salary." "Further, the tax revenues coming into the state are astronomical," Leach wrote. "It is estimated that in the first six months of legal cannabis, the State of Colorado has pulled in well over $50 million in direct tax revenues, plus millions more from licensing fees, and indirect businesses such as paraphernalia companies, apparel, tourism, etc."

The bill will now be sent to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, who will also need to approve it before getting a final signature into law from Gov. Tom Wolf, according to Leach's office.

Given the broad bipartisan support the bill received in the Senate, it appears likely the bill is primed to become law.