The times they are a-changing.

The recreational legalization of marijuana used to be a purview of attention-seeking legislators and marginalized social activists. Not anymore.

On Monday one of the state’s most respected elected officials, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, came out in support of legalizing recreational marijuana use.

Granted, DePasquale’s argument — essentially that the state is in fiscal trouble and recreational marijuana could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in new money — wasn’t the strongest case for legalization. There’s something distasteful and backward about deciding to do something simply for the prospect of cash.

But DePasquale’s proposal, whether you agree or disagree with it, helps unmask a startling reality here in Pennsylvania. The General Assembly approved medical marijuana legalization last April. Yet nearly a year later we’re hard-pressed to find a municipality that’s begun discussing preparations for medical marijuana growers and dispensers wanting to locate within their boarders. It’s certainly true that no one in Butler County is talking about this — at least in public.

DePasquale’s statement on Monday is a reminder that an even larger and more complicated discussion is on the way. There are many different ways the state could resolve the question of recreational legalization. Should the state decriminalize marijuana completely? Should we treat marijuana like fireworks, and legalize its sale to out-of-staters? Should we decriminalize only small amounts of the drug? Should we, as DePasquale argues, fully legalize recreational use to tax and regulate it as an industry?

Those are complicated and long-standing questions that will need to be resolved by the GOP-dominated General Assembly. And it should be no surprise that many Republicans aren’t very interested in moving from medical marijuana in 2016 to recreational pot in 2017.

Steve Miskin, spokesman for the state House Republican Caucus, channelled White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in his response to DePasquale’s comments.

“... (A)s Pennsylvania and the nation is facing a serious drug problem, I’m not sure that legalizing a Schedule I narcotic is the best response,” Miskin said Monday.

That tells you all you need to know about how receptive many lawmakers are to the idea of recreational legalization — that is to say, not at all.

But the bottom line is that it’s likely to happen sooner or later. Eight states and the District of Columbia have already done so. At least half of all adult Americans have at least tried marijuana, and as of 2016, 57 percent favored legalizing it for recreational use according to a Pew Research Center poll.

There’s something to be said for taking the long view and getting out in front of big changes that generate concerns and questions among residents.

And municipalities in Butler County and across the state should start preparing to answer them. Because the questions aren’t going to go away.