Harrisburg, PA – Governor Tom Wolf today announced the Pennsylvania Department of Health approved a Butler County medical marijuana dispensary and a Lawrence County grower/processor to begin operations.
Cresco Yeltrah’s Butler County Dispensary, in Butler, and Holistic Farms, LLC, in Lawrence County have passed all Department of Health inspections and can begin operations. Once medical marijuana is available, Cresco Yeltrah will be able to sell the medication to patients at the Butler County location.
“We are making great strides in getting medical marijuana to patients who desperately need it,” Governor Wolf said. “The Medical Marijuana Program continues to move ahead as growers are coming closer to having medication ready for dispensaries to sell to patients. Each day brings us one step closer to providing this essential medication to patients.”
More than 13,000 patients have registered to participate in the medical marijuana program, with 2,158 certified by a physician.
“Our team is diligently working to inspect grower/processors and dispensaries,” Acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Each of these inspections ensures that all standards set out by the regulations and their facilities are met, and the sites are safe and secure. The program continues to work to provide operational locations to help get medical marijuana to patients.”
In order to become operational, the grower/processors and dispensaries have each underwent several inspections from the Department of Health. Each of the grower/processors are fully integrated with the seed-to-sale tracking system and are now able to begin accepting seeds and clones to grow medical marijuana.
In addition, Holistic Farms, LLC , the department previously approved:
- Cresco Yeltrah, Jefferson County;
- Franklin Labs, Berks County;
- GTI Pennsylvania, Montour County;
- Holistic Farms, LLC, Lawrence County;
- Ilera Healthcare, Fulton County;
- Pennsylvania Medical Solutions, Lackawanna County;
- Prime Wellness, LLC, Berks County;
- PurePenn LLC, Allegheny County;
- Standard Farms, Luzerne County; and
- Terrapin Investment Fund 1, Clinton County.
The Department has also certified three laboratories, the latest being Steep Hill Pennsylvania, located in Harrisburg, Dauphin County. The laboratories test medication before it is sold to dispensaries and dispensed to patients.
Physicians continue to register to participate in the program. To date, 641 have registered and of those, nearly 270 have competed the training to become certified practitioners.
The Medical Marijuana Program was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016. Since that time, the department has:
- Completed the Safe Harbor temporary guidelines and Safe Harbor Letter application process, as well as approved more than 340 applications;
- Completed temporary regulations for growers/processors, dispensaries, physicians, patients and laboratories, all which have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
- Issued permits to grower/processors and dispensaries;
- Developed the Medical Marijuana Physician Workgroup;
- Convened the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board;
- Approved five training providers for physician continuing-education;
- Approved three laboratories to test medication before it is delivered to patients;
- Launched registries for patients and caregivers, as well as physicians;
- Registered more than 13,000 patients for the program;
- Approved two dispensaries and 10 grower/processers to begin operations; and
- Continued to work with permittees to ensure they will be operational.
The Medical Marijuana Program became effective on May 17, 2016, and is expected to be fully implemented in 2018. The program will offer medical marijuana to patients who are residents of Pennsylvania and under a practitioner’s care for the treatment of a serious medical condition as defined by the Medical Marijuana Law.
Questions about the Medical Marijuana Program can be emailed to RA-DHMedMarijuana@pa.gov. Information is also available at www.medicalmarijuana.pa.gov .
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
J.J. Abbott, Governor’s Office, 717-783-1116
April Hutcheson, Department of Health, 717-787-1783
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