Braddock is getting support from a key Pittsburgh figure in its bid to establish a facility for growing and processing marijuana for medical use.

Former Steelers running back Franco Harris joined Mayor John Fetterman today in an effort to garner support prior to a Borough Council meeting, where officials will consider the idea.

Mr. Harris is chairman of Laurel Green Medical, LLC, a Sewickley-based company trying to secure one of two state permits in the region to grow and process marijuana.

“We have a unique opportunity to transform Braddock into a center for state-of-the-art urban agriculture and, at the same time, become a first mover in the United States in researching the efficacy of marijuana in replacing opioids for the long-term management of pain,” Mr. Harris said in a press release.

In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story published Sunday that featured Laurel Green Medical’s plans, borough officials said they believe the facility could single-handedly take Braddock off the state’s Act 47 rolls of financially distressed communities for the first time since June 1988.

“The demise of one industry, steel, put us in Act 47 and a new industry, medical marijuana, could pull us out of Act 47,” Mr. Fetterman said.