Daylin Leach
Daylin Leach (born June 23, 1961) is a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate who has represented the 17th senatorial district since 2009. He was previously a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 149th district from 2003 to 2009. On April 2, 2013, he announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district. Leach has been called a "longtime champion" of marijuana legalization.
In 2014, he traveled to Colorado to witness its cannabis regulatory system. He said of his trip, which included cannabis consumption via a sample vaporizer pen: "I took a couple of hits. I definitely felt something... It's less than I would have smoked when I was in high school, but I didn't want to do anything else, maybe because I'm getting older or I haven't done it for a long time and I'm a lightweight.'" Leach insisted taxpayer money was not used to purchase the marijuana, and he said he would discuss his findings with Pennsyvania lawmakers and cannabis activists.
Following his trip, Leach wrote for York Daily Record: "In Colorado, we met hardworking people doing honest labor, and happy citizens responsibly living their lives in a prosperous and healthy state... The tragedy is that all of these people, every one of them would be criminals in Pennsylvania. We would arrest them, prosecute them, incarcerate some of them and ruin all of their lives. We'd kill their business and deny sick people medicine they need... That is the true insanity of prohibition, and the primary reason it is on its way to the ash-heap of history.'"
