When Poe ran for City Council, he said he wanted to legalize pot and disband the Philadelphia Parking Authority. He lost, but he got a lot of attention in the process, becoming an unlikely hero for the cause. He’s been arrested for lighting up during a protest at Independence Hall (he’s since served jail time and probation, recently posting a picture of a big bag of pot on his Facebook page now that he’s a free man) and has rallied at marijuana legalization events throughout the country. “The key is convincing people of the economic benefits of marijuana,” he says. And while he’s not foolish enough to believe that a part-time comedian and pot’s prodigal son will likely change legislation in the state in the near future, he’s putting his faith in the parents of sick kids and veterans who want to access the drug legally. “It’s the 21st century,” Poe said. “People need access to marijuana.” 

As the co-founder of political media and marketing firm Bronstein & Weaver in Bala Cynwd, Bronstein is among the most influential political activists in the country. He worked for the British Labour Party for Prime Minister Tony Blair’s reelection campaign and has lectured widely on a range of issues, most recently advocating for marijuana legalization. “It’s an issue that really affects Pennsylvanians,” Bronstein said. “It’s going to take a long time to achieve some of the things that have been achieved in other states, but there’s never been a more opportune time.” Bronstein is pushing politicos to champion what he calls “meaningful legislation,” laws that will allow for both medicinal and recreational use throughout the state. He’s also become an advocate for the use of hemp to boost the local economy.  “People are really looking for options,” he said. “People understand that things need to happen and laws need to change. The current structure is not the right one.”

He’s worked with some pretty important clients over the years, including Donald Trump, but his most recent efforts are being focused on KindBanking, a startup designed to provide financing to the legal cannabis industry. Based on the West Coast with ties to the Philly region, the startup seeks to reinvent what has been a cash-only industry along with his partners (including Lindy Snider, daughter of Flyers owner Ed). “Think of us as the GE Capital of this under-served, but potentially multi-billion dollar industry,” says Dinenberg, who launched the company last spring. He’s since been in talks with entrepreneurs in the U.S., as well as Amsterdam and Panama. He provides the equity where pot is legal and, in turn, KingBanking becomes a partner. “We’re doing deals for dispensaries, growers, equipment companies, edible product makers,” he tells CNBC, “even a weed-based online news network.

By day, he’s a mild-mannered pharmaceutical advocate, but by night he is the self-described “stoner” behind Scrapple TV, a no-holds-barred online TV network that isn’t afraid to sink its teeth into everything from gay culture to fracking to cannabis rights. Woodshop Studios in Northern Liberties (aptly housed in a former woodshop on Green Street, no less) regularly invites on-air contributors who are also gung-ho about marijuana legislation, like comedian and pot advocate N.A. Poe. Brodzik hopes to one day go national with programming designed exclusively for fellow tokers, like the new talk show already being produced in Philly called Wake n’ Bake. 

The two state senators co-sponsored a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania. Under the bill, which has hit a wall in the House, a state board would be able to license growers to legally produce marijuana for distribution to licensed processors and dispensers. Doctors, in turn, would be able to write prescriptions for the drug to treat diseases including epilepsy, cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder. “There are people who are very ill and the sooner they can get the medicine they need the better,” Leach said. Both he and Folmer have worked tirelessly to get the bill passed and are confident that it could see the light of day this year as more Republicans join the effort.

Former City Councilman Kenney is responsible for the new marijuana legislation in Philly that decriminalizes small amounts of pot into a simple summary offense -- no worse than a parking ticket. “Under this policy, police officers will be able to remain focused on more serious offenses,” Kenney said. “Many young people will be spared the life-altering consequences of a criminal record, such as limited job prospects, inability to obtain student loans or even join the armed services.” For pot activists, Kenney has become the go-to guy at City Hall, lending an ear to reform and pushing, he says, for even more relaxed laws. He’d like to see zero arrests for marijuana in Philadelphia. “The purpose of arresting a person who’s not going to be prosecuted in the first place seems to make no sense to me,” he told CBS 3. “Four thousand arrests, three- and four-million dollars a year in (city) costs, time police spend off the street booking the person, an arrest is a traumatic experience to begin with, to spend time in lockup for a situation that’s only going to get a fine and an education class anyway.”

Goldstein is co-chair of Philly NORML, the local branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Using tactics that same-sex marriage activists have successfully leveraged nationally to push forward state by state, Goldstein is not only a friend to the cause, but a soldier. He was willing to take a bullet in the form of an arrest, fine and probation for lighting up during one of his Smoke Down Prohibition protests. “We have seen a tremendous amount of activity in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the last six years,” says Goldstein, “including medical marijuana bills, decriminalization bills and full legalization bills. We have also seen a much bigger buy-in from the public at-large as the issue continues to win victories across the nation.”

The new PA Congressman has introduced what’s being called the “Charlotte’s Web Act,” a bill that would amend the state’s Controlled Substances Act to exclude therapeutic hemp and cannabidiol. Named for Charlotte Figi, a girl in Colorado who was having grand mal seizures that left her on the brink of death, the bill would allow people with similar medical conditions – everything from asthma, glaucoma and cancer – to seek alternative relief. “Unfortunately, this plant and its derivatives and extracts are currently banned for medical use on the federal level,” explains Perry, “and are unavailable to the citizens of Pennsylvania.” If he can change that, patients would be able to access the drug through medically legit avenues with prescriptions from their doctors. 

She began her Smokin’ Hot Consultants after her son Nick (better known as Snick) introduced her to the business side of the marijuana world. He makes glass paraphernalia – pot art, if you will – and has become a kind of rock star in the industry. Mom Claudia decided that she could use her years of sales and marketing experience to create a firm that courts would-be cannabis start-ups just like his. As a result, Post is burning at both ends: she’s the former editor of a weed magazine and she’s also joined the National Cannabis Industry Association. “People are calling me wanting to set their legitimate businesses,” she says. “Basically I’m helping people with their websites and business plans.” She’s even set up a few glass artists with accountants and has partnered with Wood Shop Studios to do TV production. “I don’t look like a stoner,” says Post, but she’s planning Cannatopia, a cannabis convention schedule in Secaucus, N.J., in August. “We’re taking what was an underground business,” she says, “and making it more accessible to people who need to understand how to run a business.”

The executive director of the Keystone Cannabis Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to legalizing marijuana in the state, one of Stark’s top priorities is passing a bill that will allow for industrial hemp to be reintroduced as a legitimate crop. He’s also encouraging local municipalities to pass laws that decriminalize adult consumption of the drug, while also pushing for statewide decriminalization. “The people of Pennsylvania have waited long enough,” says Stark. “Does anyone know now long it has been since the first bill for medical marijuana was introduced in Pennsylvania? It was introduced in 1979. That means it is 35 years that the citizens of Pennsylvania have been waiting – 35 years.”