By Tony May

With a new statewide poll showing nine out of 10 Pennsylvania voters favoring legalization of marijuana for medical purposes, the question that should be before the General Assembly should be where to draw the line on normalization of pot laws.

Tony May (PennLive File)

The Quinnipiac survey of 1,036 Keystone State voters showed an overwhelming 88 percent in favor of medicinal pot derivatives with only 10 percent opposed and 2 percent undecided.

The poll also indicated 51 percent of Pennsylvanians surveyed favored allowing adults "to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use."

The new Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll aligns with the track record of similar poll questions asked in the Franklin & Marshall poll over the last nine years.

The F&M research put support for medical marijuana at 74 percent in 2006, 81 percent in 2013 and 84 percent in 2014.

Clearly public opinion is running ahead of legislative reaction, as is often the case The as-yet-unvocalized question facing the legislature is not whether to simply pass legislation legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana oil as proposed by Sens. Mike Folmer (a Republican) of Lebanon County and Daylin Leach (a Democrat) of Montgomery County.

Rather, it's whether to consider a range of companion approaches with far reaching legal,social and economic benefits. They could:

Approve legislation to legalize the cultivation of agricultural and industrial hemp, once a significant cash crop for Pennsylvania farmers, which has been banned over the years because it was a low potency cousin of the marijuana plant.

Revise marijuana possession laws to "decriminalize" simple possession of marijuana to make it a summary offense like a traffic or parking ticket.

Legalize marijuana cultivation, sale and usage along the lines of Colorado, Washington and Oregon, opening up new opportunities for economic investment and tax revenues.

The new Q-pac poll should allay a great deal of the fears of some legislators that drastic reform of marijuana laws will turn Pennsylvania overnight into a wasteland of slackers.

To the contrary, most of those polled seemed to be operating at a startlingly high level of altruism.

Almost every Keystoner, it seems, wants kids and adults to be able to access the medical benefits of cannabis. A simple majority say they are ready to decriminalize pot.

But when asked whether they would use the stuff themselves if it were legal, only 15 percent of those polled said they would be likely to try the stuff.(That compares to the estimated one in five Pennsylvanians who smoke cigarettes.)

The payback from decriminalizing grass would be huge.

Police would be freed up from pursuing pursuing pot users to focus on violent crime. Court backlogs could be reduced. Prison overcrowding could be diminished.

Marijuana could be taxed like cigarettes (heavily, in other words) and a new ag industry could be created generating thousands of new jobs.

The only conceivable downside would be a possible uptick in problems created by the side effects of marijuana.

And on that point, the pharmaceutical industry has done a good job of educating the public about the relative dangers of a wide variety of drugs through their massive television advertising budgets.

You can imagine what it would be like if we ever got to promoting recreational pot on TV. The warnings might go something like this (courtesy of www.webmd.com):

"Use of marijuana can cause dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, dry or red eyes, heart and blood pressure problems, lung problems, impaired mental functioning, headache, dizziness, numbness, panic reactions, hallucinations, flashbacks, depression, and sexual problems."

Sounds pretty serious until you compare to this actual excerpt from a TV commercial for a popular anti-depressant:

"(This pill) is not for everyone ,,, Call your doctor if you have unusual changes in your behavior or thoughts of suicide ... increased risk of death or stroke. Call your doctor if you have a high fever, stiff muscles and confusion to address a possible life threatening condition ... or if you have uncontrollable muscle movements as these could become permanent. High blood sugar has been reported. Other risks include decreased white blood cells, dizziness upon standing, seizures, trouble swallowing and impaired judgment or motor skills."

Which would you rather take to chill out?

Tony May is a partner in Triad Strategies, a Harrisburg-based lobbying and public affairs firm.

He is a former Casey administration official and a contributor, along with "Donkeys & Elephants" columnist Charlie Gerow and PennLive Opinion Editor John L. Micek, to "Face the State," a weekly public affairs show on WHP-21 in Harrisburg.