Pennsylvania cannabis rules for visitors

Pennsylvania sets no possession limit for visitors because visitors cannot lawfully possess cannabis at all: only Pennsylvania residents registered with the Department of Health as medical patients or caregivers may buy and carry it, and a dispensary may not hand a patient more than a 90-day supply, 192 medical marijuana units, until all but a 7-day supply is used (35 P.S. 10231.405; 28 Pa. Code 1161a.24). One unit equals 3.5 grams of dry leaf, 1 gram of concentrate or 100 milligrams of THC in a pill, oil, liquid, tincture or topical (28 Pa. Code 1141a.21). For anyone else, possessing 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish or less is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both, and larger amounts carry up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both for a first offense (35 P.S. 780-113). Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg handle small amounts with city tickets, but state law has not changed.

A visitor cannot buy cannabis in Pennsylvania: dispensaries serve only patients and caregivers holding a Department of Health ID card, the program requires Pennsylvania residency shown with a Pennsylvania driver's license or state ID card, and medical cards from other states are not accepted (35 P.S. 10231.103, 10231.303). Bringing cannabis bought legally in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland or Delaware into Pennsylvania is possession under state law (35 P.S. 780-113), and crossing a state line with it is a federal matter. Patients may not smoke medical marijuana anywhere, there are no lounges and no delivery, and any amount of THC or its metabolite in a driver's blood is a DUI (75 Pa.C.S. 3802(d)(1)). Independence National Historical Park, the Delaware Water Gap and other federal sites follow federal law, where adult-use marijuana remains Schedule I.

The regulator is the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Office of Medical Marijuana. Check any shop's license on the state license lookup before you buy.

No. Pennsylvania has no adult-use market, and its only legal channel is the medical program run by the Department of Health's Office of Medical Marijuana. A dispensary may dispense only to a patient or caregiver who presents a valid identification card issued by the Department (Medical Marijuana Act, section 303; 35 P.S. 10231.303), and the Act defines a patient as a resident of the Commonwealth (section 103). The Department registers patients only with a Pennsylvania driver's license or state ID card, and the law has no visiting-patient card. A provision on medical marijuana from other states is marked expired (section 2106).

Registered patients buy against a 90-day supply. A dispensary may not hand over more than a 90-day supply, which the Department's rules set at 192 medical marijuana units, until the patient has used all but a 7-day supply (35 P.S. 10231.405; 28 Pa. Code 1161a.24). One unit is 3.5 grams of dry leaf, 1 gram of concentrate or 100 milligrams of THC in a pill, oil, liquid, tincture or topical (28 Pa. Code 1141a.21). Patients must keep unused product in its original package and carry their ID card whenever they have it (section 303), and holding more than the permitted amount is criminal retention, a third-degree misdemeanor (section 1303).

Everyone else falls under the Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. Possessing a small amount for personal use, defined as 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $500 or both, and the same applies to sharing a small amount without selling it (35 P.S. 780-113(a)(31), (g)). Possession above those amounts is charged as knowing possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail, a $5,000 fine or both for a first offense (780-113(a)(16), (b)).

Three cities have softened enforcement without changing state law. Philadelphia makes possessing or buying 30 grams or less a $25 civil violation and smoking in public a $100 violation (Philadelphia Code 10-2102); Pittsburgh sets a $25 summary fine for 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish and $100 for smoking or vaping in public (Pittsburgh Code Title Six, section 627); Harrisburg fines possession $75 and use $150 for a first or second offense within five years (Harrisburg Code 3-373-5). Each ordinance applies only inside city limits and says it does not supersede Pennsylvania or federal law.

Only registered patients and caregivers with a Department of Health medical marijuana ID card can buy, and the card must be shown in person at the store or from a vehicle on the dispensary's site (28 Pa. Code 1161a.23). Before each sale, the store's physician, pharmacist, physician assistant or nurse practitioner checks the card in the state's electronic tracking system and reviews the patient's certification (1161a.23(b)). Only patients, caregivers and authorized employees may enter the limited access area; other people, such as vendors, must show government ID, sign a log and wear a visible badge (1161a.30).

Adults 18 and older register themselves, because the Department's rules define an adult patient as 18 or older (28 Pa. Code 1141a.21). A patient under 18 must have a caregiver who is a parent, a legal guardian, someone a parent or guardian designates or a person the Department approves (35 P.S. 10231.506), and the Department issues the minor a patient authorization letter instead of an ID card; at 18 the patient may apply for a card (28 Pa. Code 1191a.32). Nobody under 18 may enter a dispensary unless they are a patient or are accompanied by a parent, guardian or caregiver (1161a.26(d)).

Getting a card takes Pennsylvania residency and time. The Department asks every patient and caregiver for a Pennsylvania driver's license or Pennsylvania state ID card when registering, then a certification from an approved practitioner, then a $50 card fee, with no-cost cards for people enrolled in Medicaid, PACE or PACENET, CHIP, SNAP or WIC. It tells applicants to allow 7 days for printing and 14 days for mailing after payment. Certifications last up to a year, and the card itself expires within one year of issue (35 P.S. 10231.501(e)).

Caregivers must be 21 or older unless the Department allows otherwise, must pass a criminal history check, and are refused if convicted of a drug sale or possession offense in the past five years (35 P.S. 10231.502, 10231.507). A patient may designate up to two caregivers (section 303). A borrowed card does not work: possessing or using an identification card you are not entitled to is a second-degree misdemeanor for a first offense (section 1305), and the store must verify the card in the tracking system before it dispenses (section 801).

For visitors, nowhere: without a Pennsylvania medical card, any possession is a state offense, so there is no legal place to use (35 P.S. 780-113). Registered patients may use medical marijuana only in the forms the law allows, and the Medical Marijuana Act makes it unlawful to smoke medical marijuana at all (35 P.S. 10231.304(b)(1)). Dry leaf or plant form is sold only for administration by vaporization (28 Pa. Code 1141a.21), and pills, oils, topicals, tinctures and liquids are the other forms (section 303). A patient may mix medical marijuana into food to aid ingestion, though dispensaries do not sell edibles (section 304(c)).

The Act also lists situations its protection does not reach. It does not shield anyone possessing or using medical marijuana in a state or county correctional facility or a youth detention center, or undertaking a task under the influence when that would be negligence or professional misconduct (section 1309). Employers need not accommodate use on their premises and may discipline employees for working under the influence (section 2103), and patients may not perform duties at heights or in confined spaces while under the influence (section 510). Use by students and school employees on school grounds falls under Department of Education rules (section 2104).

The Clean Indoor Air Act adds a statewide indoor rule. It bars smoking, defined as carrying a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or other lighted smoking device, in any public place, which it defines as an enclosed area serving as a workplace or commercial establishment or where the public is invited, including trains, buses, taxis and stations (sections 2 and 3). It also lets the owner of any public or private property prohibit smoking there. Because the Medical Marijuana Act already forbids smoking medical marijuana, patients are limited to the permitted forms, and owners of private property may set their own rules.

City ordinances add fines for public use. Philadelphia's code fines smoking marijuana in any public space $100, or up to nine hours of community service, and defines public space to include streets, alleys, parks, sidewalks, a vehicle on a street or in a parking area and any place the public is invited (Philadelphia Code 10-2101, 10-2102). Pittsburgh uses the same $100 fine and counts vaporizing as smoking (Pittsburgh Code Title Six, section 627), and Harrisburg fines personal use, including vaporizing, $150 for a first or second offense (Harrisburg Code 3-373-2, 3-373-5). None of the three ordinances creates an exception for registered medical marijuana patients.

Only a registered Pennsylvania patient has any legal footing, and even then the hotel decides. No Pennsylvania statute addresses medical marijuana in guest rooms, but the Clean Indoor Air Act lets the owner of any public or private property prohibit smoking on it, and a lodging establishment may designate no more than 25 percent of its rooms as smoking rooms (section 3). Because the Medical Marijuana Act bans smoking medical marijuana anywhere (35 P.S. 10231.304), a smoking room does not change the answer for cannabis. Patients who vaporize dry leaf or use oils or pills remain bound by the hotel's own rules on cannabis and vaping.

A visitor without a Pennsylvania card has no lawful way to keep cannabis in a hotel room, whether it came from a New Jersey or New York store or anywhere else. Statewide, including in Philadelphia, 30 grams or less is a misdemeanor with up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $500, or both (35 P.S. 780-113(a)(31), (g)), although Philadelphia police may instead write a $25 civil notice under the city code. Philadelphia's definition of public space covers any place the public is invited, so smoking in a lobby, bar or pool area draws the city's $100 fine (Philadelphia Code 10-2101, 10-2102).

Resorts and vacation rentals in the Poconos are private property, so house rules control, and many Pocono trips cross into federal land. The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, whose park headquarters visitor center is in Bushkill, prohibits smoking, including electronic smoking devices, handheld vaporizers and items covered by the federal Controlled Substances Act, medical use included, in all areas and buildings of the park (Superintendent's Compendium, June 2026). The Act requires patients to keep unused medical marijuana in its original package and to carry their ID card whenever they have it (section 303).

Delivery to a hotel is not allowed either. The Department's rules bar dispensaries from delivering, or contracting a third party to deliver, medical marijuana to a patient's home or any other location (28 Pa. Code 1161a.27(e)(3)); the only alternative to walking in is pickup from a vehicle on the dispensary's own site (1161a.26(a)). A patient traveling inside Pennsylvania picks up in person, carries the card and keeps the receipt the store must provide (35 P.S. 10231.801).

No. Pennsylvania has no law that licenses on-site consumption, and the Department of Health's rules forbid a dispensary from letting a patient self-administer medical marijuana at the facility unless the patient is also an employee and the store allows employee use (28 Pa. Code 1161a.22(b)(3)). The Medical Marijuana Act authorizes only two kinds of medical marijuana organization, grower/processors and dispensaries (35 P.S. 10231.601), so there is no permit category for a lounge, a cafe or a consumption event.

Even a private club could not offer patients a legal smoking room for cannabis, because smoking medical marijuana is unlawful everywhere in the state (section 304), even though the Clean Indoor Air Act's general indoor smoking ban exempts private clubs, tobacco shops, cigar bars and some bars (sections 2 and 3). A venue or event that invites guests to consume cannabis is not licensed by the Department, and guests without a Pennsylvania card face the possession penalties in 35 P.S. 780-113.

Lounges would need an adult-use law, and none has passed. HB 1200, which would have created Pennsylvania Cannabis Stores and given the Liquor Control Board new duties, passed the House 102 to 101 on May 7, 2025, then failed in the Senate Law and Justice Committee on May 13, 2025, when a motion to report it lost 3 to 7. SB 120, the bipartisan bill from Senators Dan Laughlin and Sharif Street that would create a Cannabis Control Board and license cannabis business establishments, has sat in that committee since July 10, 2025, and a resolution to discharge it was presented on June 29, 2026. Neither had become law in the records available on October 16, 2026.

Pennsylvania has a zero-tolerance drugged driving rule. A person may not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of a vehicle with any amount of a Schedule I controlled substance, or its metabolite, in the blood (75 Pa.C.S. 3802(d)(1)), and marijuana is listed in Schedule I of the state's Controlled Substance Act. Separate provisions cover driving while impaired by a drug, or by alcohol and drugs combined (3802(d)(2), (d)(3)). The Medical Marijuana Act contains no exception for patients, so a card is no defense to a positive blood test.

Penalties start high. A first offense under the controlled substance subsection carries at least 72 consecutive hours in jail, a fine of $1,000 to $5,000, alcohol highway safety school and any required treatment; a second offense carries at least 90 days and a fine of at least $1,500, and a third or later offense at least a year and $2,500 (75 Pa.C.S. 3804(c)). Every medical product's label must warn that it might impair the ability to drive or operate heavy machinery (35 P.S. 10231.801(i)).

Carrying cannabis is a separate question. Without a Pennsylvania card, having it in a car, rental or rideshare is possession under 35 P.S. 780-113, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh count a vehicle on a street or in a parking area as a public space where smoking draws a $100 fine (Philadelphia Code 10-2101; Pittsburgh Code Title Six, section 627). A patient must keep medical marijuana in the original package and carry the ID card (35 P.S. 10231.303), and the Clean Indoor Air Act treats taxicabs, limousines and buses as public places where smoking is banned (section 2).

Curbside pickup and the DUI rule are separate questions. Patients may pick up from their car at a dispensary that follows the Department's curbside protocol (35 P.S. 10231.802; 28 Pa. Code 1161a.26), but pickup does not change the DUI rule. Drivers coming from New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware or Ohio should know that the Pennsylvania offense turns on what is in the blood, not where the cannabis was bought, so a legal purchase across the border is no defense once the driver is on a Pennsylvania road (75 Pa.C.S. 3802(d)(1)).

Only a registered Pennsylvania patient may lawfully carry medical marijuana into a Pennsylvania airport under state law, and that protection ends at the state line. Philadelphia International Airport is owned and operated by the City of Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh International is run by the Allegheny County Airport Authority; neither airport's website publishes a cannabis policy that we could find, and Pittsburgh's security page covers medication screening without mentioning marijuana. For a visitor without a card, cannabis in a terminal is possession under 35 P.S. 780-113.

Screening is federal. TSA's medical marijuana page, last updated April 27, 2026, lists it as allowed in carry-on and checked bags with special instructions, says officers do not search for illegal drugs, and says any illegal substance found during screening is referred to law enforcement, with the final call resting with the officer. The FAA's 2022 compliance letter says the cultivation, storage or distribution of marijuana is prohibited on federally obligated airport property regardless of state law. Federal simple possession carries up to a year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine (21 U.S.C. 844).

Five neighbors have legalized adult-use cannabis, as the governor's February 2025 budget release notes, and none of their protections cross the border. New Jersey lets residents and visitors 21 and older buy up to 1 ounce per transaction and possess up to 6 ounces; New York allows adults 21 and older to possess up to 3 ounces and 24 grams of concentrated cannabis (Penal Law 222.05); Maryland's personal use amount is 1.5 ounces, 12 grams of concentrate or 750 milligrams of THC (Criminal Law 5-101, 5-601); Delaware allows 1 ounce, 12 grams of concentrate or 750 milligrams of THC; and Ohio allows 2.5 ounces and 15 grams of extract.

Carrying any of it into Pennsylvania is possession under state law, a misdemeanor even for 30 grams or less anywhere in the state (35 P.S. 780-113(a)(31), (g)), although police in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg may write a city ticket instead. Delaware's Office of the Marijuana Commissioner says it is illegal to leave or enter Delaware with marijuana, and Ohio's Division of Cannabis Control says federal and state law prohibit traveling across state lines with cannabis. In West Virginia, possessing a controlled substance without a valid order is a misdemeanor with 90 days to six months in jail, a fine of up to $1,000 or both, though a first offense under 15 grams of marijuana must be handled under section 60A-4-407 (W. Va. Code 60A-4-401(c)).

Not for visitors, and no federal source read for this guide says whether a registered Pennsylvania patient's medical marijuana fits the Park Service rule's exception. National Park Service rules prohibit delivering a controlled substance and possessing one unless it was obtained from a practitioner or is otherwise allowed by federal or state law (36 CFR 2.35), and federal simple possession carries up to a year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine (21 U.S.C. 844). Pennsylvania's Park Service units include Independence National Historical Park, home of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Valley Forge National Historical Park, Gettysburg National Military Park, Flight 93 National Memorial and Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton.

In the Poconos, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area goes further. Its Superintendent's Compendium of June 2026 prohibits smoking, including electronic smoking devices, handheld vaporizers and items covered by the federal Controlled Substances Act, medical use included, in all areas and buildings of the park outside the spots already closed to smoking, to protect park resources and reduce the risk of fire. That rule reaches a registered Pennsylvania patient with a vaporizer as well as a visitor, so smoking or vaping cannabis anywhere in the park, from the trails to the designated swimming areas, breaks the compendium.

The 2026 federal change is narrow. A Drug Enforcement Administration final rule effective April 28, 2026 placed FDA-approved drug products containing marijuana, and marijuana subject to a state-issued license to manufacture, distribute or dispense it for medical purposes, in Schedule III; marijuana outside those categories remains in Schedule I, which covers everything a visitor might bring from a neighboring state's adult-use store. DEA's separate hearing on broader rescheduling ran from June 29 to July 15, 2026, and the agency's chief administrative law judge stayed the case on September 29, 2026, so no final broader rule exists.

This guide found no tribal land program in Pennsylvania: no tribe on the Bureau of Indian Affairs' January 30, 2026 list of federally recognized tribes has a name referring to Pennsylvania, and federal possession law applies everywhere regardless (21 U.S.C. 844). State parks are not federal, but they are not a safe harbor either. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' state park rules ban alcohol outside designated facilities and contain no cannabis exception (17 Pa. Code Chapter 11), so the Controlled Substance Act applies there as everywhere else in the state.

No. The Department of Health's rules bar a dispensary from delivering medical marijuana, or contracting a third party to deliver it, to a patient's or caregiver's home or any other location (28 Pa. Code 1161a.27(e)(3)). A dispensary may dispense only inside an indoor, enclosed, secure facility the Department has inspected and deemed operational, or to a patient or caregiver in a vehicle on the dispensary's operational site (1161a.26(a)), and the Medical Marijuana Act allows that curbside option under a protocol the Department sets (35 P.S. 10231.802).

A change has been debated but not enacted. Senate Bill 49, which would create a Cannabis Control Board to take over the medical program, would have the board issue 15 third-party transporter permits to deliver cannabis products to patients and caregivers 21 or older, limited to private residences, one delivery a day and the hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (SB 49, Printer's Number 1805, section 504). The Senate defeated it 23 to 27 on June 10, 2026, voted 29 to 21 the same day to reconsider, and last laid it on and removed it from the table on September 28, 2026.

Any service that offers to bring cannabis to a Pennsylvania hotel or home is therefore not a licensed delivery, because the program authorizes none. Buying from one exposes the buyer to the possession penalties, a misdemeanor for 30 grams or less (35 P.S. 780-113(a)(31), (g)), and the seller to the delivery offense, which for marijuana is a felony carrying up to five years in prison, a $15,000 fine or both (780-113(a)(30), (f)(2)). Patients who cannot travel can designate up to two caregivers to pick up for them (35 P.S. 10231.303).

No, not even with a medical card. The Medical Marijuana Act makes it unlawful to grow medical marijuana unless the grower/processor has received a permit from the Department of Health (35 P.S. 10231.304(b)(3)), and the program has no home cultivation option for patients or caregivers. The Department may initially issue no more than 25 grower/processor permits, and no person may hold more than one (section 616), with a limited number of extra permits for independent operators added by Act 63 of 2023 (section 617).

Growing without a permit is treated as manufacturing. The Controlled Substance Act defines manufacture to include production, and production to include planting, cultivating, growing or harvesting (35 P.S. 780-102), and manufacturing marijuana without registration is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a $15,000 fine or both (780-113(a)(30), (f)(2)). Quantities over 1,000 pounds carry up to ten years and a $100,000 fine (780-113(f)(1.1)). A patient who grows at home loses the Act's protection, which covers only use and possession as the Act sets out (sections 303 and 304).

Hemp is the one cannabis crop a private grower can raise legally, and only with a state permit. The Department of Agriculture issues permits to grow and process hemp under the Controlled Plants and Noxious Weeds law and the PA Hemp General Permit, and its hemp page lists 170 growing permits, including 11 research permits, and 32 processing permits. A hemp permit does not authorize growing marijuana, and the federal definition of hemp narrows on November 12, 2026, at first only for products with cannabinoids the plant cannot produce naturally and for other intoxicating products on December 11, 2026 (Public Law 119-37, Division B, section 781; Public Law 119-103, Division B, section 2019).

Patients pay no sales tax: medical marijuana is exempt from the state sales tax imposed under section 202 of the Tax Reform Code of 1971 (35 P.S. 10231.901(e)). The only cannabis tax is 5 percent of a grower/processor's gross receipts from sales to dispensaries, which the grower/processor pays and which may not be added as a separate charge or line item on any sales slip, invoice or receipt given to a dispensary, patient or caregiver (section 901(a)). Growers pay it quarterly on Department of Revenue forms, and the money goes into the Medical Marijuana Program Fund (sections 901(b), (d)).

The Fund pays for the program and patient help. After repaying the state's startup costs, 55 percent goes to the Department of Health, including 15 percent for programs that help patients with the cost of medical marijuana, card fee waivers and caregiver background checks; 30 percent funds research; 10 percent goes to the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs; and 5 percent goes to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency for local police (section 902(c)). The compiler's note says Act 45 of 2025 repealed the police share insofar as it conflicts with a new Fiscal Code provision.

A patient's other cost is the ID card: $50, with $25 for a first replacement and $50 for each later one, and no-cost cards for people enrolled in Medicaid, PACE or PACENET, CHIP, SNAP or WIC (Department of Health; 28 Pa. Code 1191a.26). Visitors pay no Pennsylvania cannabis tax because they cannot buy; the adult-use taxes they meet across the border are those states' taxes. Governor Shapiro's 2025-26 and 2026-27 budget proposals both called for legal, taxed adult-use sales, but no tax law has passed.

No. The Medical Marijuana Act defines a patient as someone with a serious medical condition who is certified under the Act and is a resident of the Commonwealth (35 P.S. 10231.103), and dispensaries may dispense only to holders of a Pennsylvania Department of Health ID card (section 303). The Department's patient page says participants must be Pennsylvania residents and must prove it with a Pennsylvania driver's license or state ID card. The Act's section on medical marijuana from other states is marked expired (section 2106), and no visiting-patient card exists, so a patient from another state is treated like any other visitor.

Residents qualify with a serious medical condition certified by a practitioner approved by the Department. The Department lists 24 conditions, among them amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, anxiety disorders, autism, cancer, Crohn's disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV or AIDS, multiple sclerosis, opioid use disorder under stated conditions, Parkinson's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, severe chronic or intractable pain, sickle cell anemia, terminal illness and Tourette syndrome. Certifications run no longer than a year under the Department's rules for the program, the practitioner may limit the form or dose, and the dispensary must follow those limits (28 Pa. Code 1161a.23).

The program is large. The Department's June 24, 2026 update to the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board counted 438,727 active patient certifications, 1,937 approved practitioners, 33 operational grower/processors and 196 operational dispensaries as of June 1, 2026. The Act was signed on April 17, 2016, the Department's final-form regulations were published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on March 4, 2023, and Act 63 of 2023, signed December 14, 2023 and effective April 12, 2024, let independent operators add a second permit type.

The 2026 federal rule touches patients only indirectly. Under the DEA's April 28, 2026 final rule, marijuana subject to a state medical marijuana license is a Schedule III substance federally, while other marijuana stays in Schedule I. Pennsylvania's own schedules were not changed: marijuana remains in Schedule I of the state Controlled Substance Act, which is why the DUI rule still applies to patients (75 Pa.C.S. 3802(d)(1)). Senate Bill 49, which would move the program to a new Cannabis Control Board, had not passed the Senate as of October 7, 2026.

Most visitor cases start with a small amount. Possessing 30 grams of marijuana or 8 grams of hashish or less for personal use, or sharing that much without selling it, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a fine of up to $500 or both (35 P.S. 780-113(a)(31), (g)). Inside Philadelphia, police may instead issue a $25 civil notice for possessing or buying a small amount (Philadelphia Code 10-2102); Pittsburgh's summary fine is $25 (section 627) and Harrisburg's is $75 for a first or second offense within five years (Code 3-373-5).

Larger amounts and selling raise the stakes. Possession above the small-amount threshold is a misdemeanor with up to a year in jail, a fine of up to $5,000, or both for a first offense, or up to three years, a fine of up to $25,000, or both after a prior conviction under the Act (780-113(a)(16), (b)). Selling, growing or possessing with intent to deliver is a felony with up to five years and $15,000 (780-113(a)(30), (f)(2)). Using or possessing drug paraphernalia, such as a pipe or vaporizer used with cannabis possessed in violation of the Act, is a misdemeanor with up to a year in jail, a $2,500 fine or both (780-113(a)(32), (i)).

Medical program offenses can catch visitors too. Possessing or using an identification card you are not entitled to, or one with false information, to obtain medical marijuana is a second-degree misdemeanor for a first offense and first-degree after that (35 P.S. 10231.1305), and a patient or caregiver who gives medical marijuana to someone without a card commits criminal diversion, graded the same way (section 1304). Other violations of the Act by patients or caregivers are third-degree misdemeanors with a fine of up to $5,000 or up to six months in jail for a first offense (section 1308).

Driving with any amount of marijuana or its metabolite in the blood is a DUI carrying at least 72 hours in jail and a $1,000 to $5,000 fine for a first offense (75 Pa.C.S. 3802(d)(1), 3804(c)). Smoking marijuana in public draws $100 in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and personal use $150 in Harrisburg. In federal parks, the possession rule in 36 CFR 2.35 applies, and federal simple possession carries up to a year in prison and a minimum $1,000 fine for a first offense (21 U.S.C. 844).

Check the Department of Health's list. Its PDF, Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in Pennsylvania with Product, created September 16, 2026, lists 200 locations with name, street address, city, ZIP code, phone and website, and every row shows product available as of that date. A licensed dispensary must post its permit where patients, caregivers, police and Department agents can easily see it (35 P.S. 10231.803), may not sit within 1,000 feet of a school or day-care center unless the Department waives the rule (section 802), and checks every card in the state's tracking system before each sale (section 801).

By mailing address, 16 listed locations are in Philadelphia, 13 in Pittsburgh, 7 in Lancaster and 4 in Harrisburg, though the Census geocoder places only 7 of the Pittsburgh addresses, 1 of the Lancaster addresses and 2 of the Harrisburg addresses inside those cities' limits. In the Poconos, the list shows two stores with Stroudsburg addresses and one in Mount Pocono. The Department's June 24, 2026 advisory board update counted 196 operational dispensaries statewide as of June 1, 2026, a different count date from the September list.

Smoke shops, gas stations and CBD stores selling delta-8, THCA flower or hemp gummies are not dispensaries and do not appear on the list. This guide found no Pennsylvania statute that caps THC in hemp products sold in shops or sets an age to buy them; the Department of Agriculture's hemp program covers grower and processor permits. Philadelphia's Bill No. 260163, passed 16 to 0 on June 4, 2026 and signed September 15, 2026, takes effect November 12, 2026: it makes it unlawful to sell any product the federal definition excludes from hemp, bars sales of intoxicating substances to anyone under 21 and requires a city permit for each location once regulations issue.

The federal change lands the same day. Public Law 119-37, approved November 12, 2025, narrows the federal definition of hemp effective 365 days later, excluding final products with more than 0.4 milligrams of combined total THC and similar cannabinoids per container (Division B, section 781). A stopgap law approved September 2, 2026 limits the change until December 11, 2026 to products containing cannabinoids that the cannabis plant cannot produce naturally (Public Law 119-103, Division B, section 2019). Senate Bill 49 would write the same 0.4-milligram line into Pennsylvania law, but it has not passed.