Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf officially announced his support for decriminalizing marijuana during an interview Tuesday.

Speaking with Pittsburgh television station WPXI, Wolf said that he thought decriminalization had several benefits, noting the criminal justice dilemma that the legal status of the drug creates:

“I believe, for a number of reasons, that we ought to decriminalize marijuana use. I think our prisons are over-crowded as a result of people going to jail for reasons that, you know, we break up families for reasons that we shouldn’t.

With nearly half of the country having already legalized the use of cannabis for medical purposes, physicians prescribing opioids for pain management have another alternative at their disposal. As medical marijuana laws become more relaxed, practitioners now have the option of treating chronic pain patients with prescription opioids, medical cannabis or both. Among many, however, there’s a concern about the adverse effects in patients using both.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf told Channel 11’s Cara Sapida on Tuesday that he thinks marijuana should be decriminalized.

“There are a lot of reasons to look at decriminalization. I think that’s something that I support," he said.

Wolf said the drug is ripping families apart.

“I believe, for a number of reasons, that we ought to decriminalize marijuana use. I think our prisons are over-crowded as a result of people going to jail for reasons that, you know, we break up families for reasons that we shouldn’t," Wolf said.

“We destroy lives and we make it hard to find employment. So often right now possession of a small amount is a felony and an employer looks at that and dismisses (the person) automatically.”

HARRISBURG — With the legalization of medical marijuana now before the House, Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday hosted supporters at the governor’s residence for what he described as “a chance to get the facts out.”

Mr. Wolf sat for more than an hour in the front row as two doctors, a lawyer, the mother of a child with epilepsy and a man with a pain disorder made the case for allowing doctors to add marijuana to the treatments they recommend to their patients.

The Pennsylvania Senate passed a medical marijuana bill 40-7 this week. The GOP-controlled Senate … in Pennsylvania … gave a thumbs-up to medical marijuana. Such a freak occurrence should be roundly cheered by pot activists, no?

Well, that’s not what happened.

Here's a sampling of things that advocates for medical pot said recently about "Senate Bill 3," the medical marijuana bill sponsored by Sen. Daylin Leach and Sen. Mike Folmer:

DOUGLASSVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) --

Police in Berks County have charged a 70-year-old man in connection with a marijuana grow operation inside a Douglassville home.

On Wednesday emergency crews responded to a home on Lehman Street for the report of a fire.

Officers arrived at the scene and spoke to the 9-1-1 caller, who told them that they knocked on the door of the house that was on fire to warn the occupant of the blaze. However, they say the man that answered the door quickly closed the door.

A short time later officers observed smoke emanating from the roof of the residence. It was at this point that officers and firefighters forcibly entered the home.

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A bill to legalize the use of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania has cleared the state Senate and now heads to the state House of Representatives.

Senate Bill 1182 would allow people with certain conditions to use medical marijuana who have a recommendation from their doctor.

This list includes people with cancer, epilepsy, post traumatic stress disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, severe fibromyalgia, cachexia (wasting syndrome), Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, traumatic brain injury and post-concussion syndrome.

Nine recent, non-fatal overdoses York City Police believe stemmed from people smoking synthetic marijuana prompted the department on Thursday to take a boots-on-the-ground approach to getting the drug off the streets.

Three officers walked into 58 stores in the city, handing out pamphlets about the drug and educating store owners who may not know about the drug's legal status, said York City Detective First Class Andrew Shaffer, who joined the officers.

Shaffer said that all synthetic cannabis is illegal. But that can change when manufacturers of the drug introduce a new chemical.

Supporters of a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania this year met in Pittsburgh Monday to make their case for legal pot. The bill, which would allow doctors to prescribe patients a marijuana oil extract that users could either ingest directly or inhale through a vaporizer device, passed the Senate last week and is now headed for the House.