As the Times Observer’s Josh Cotton detailed last week, it’s incredibly easy for Warren County to get their hands on marijuana.

While New York’s government has dallied in setting up its legal market, the Seneca Nation of Indians has not. A visit to Onoville for cheaper gas or to get onto Interstate 86 near Onoville are greeted by 11 marijuana dispensaries and gas stations that give samples. Using those substances in New York is legal. Bringing them back to Pennsylvania is not.

Just imagine how much easier it will be for county residents to get their hands on marijuana products when New York’s legal market is really operating.

This isn’t just a Warren County problem. It’s an issue in areas throughout parts of the commonwealth that border states that sell marijuana legally. The status quo is untenable in border areas like ours. Enforcing the state’s current marijuana policy is an enforcement nightmare — and everyone knows it except for policy makers in Harrisburg. What are the options to enforce the state’s ban. Pennsylvania could request neighboring states sell marijuana only to residents of those states, but that’s not enforceable either. The state could park State Troopers on every road with a border crossing — but we all know that’s not happening.

Realistically, if what is happening in Warren with the trip to Onoville is happening in border areas throughout the state then Gov. Josh Shapiro and state legislators may have no real option other than to legalize recreational marijuana.

We tell children not to succumb to peer pressure. Pennsylvania may have no other choice.