Harrisburg, PA - Acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine today encouraged patients and their caregivers to provide comments on the proposed regulations for their participation in the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Program.
“Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program is about the patients suffering from one or more of the 17 serious medical conditions outlined in the law and the caregivers who provide them with extensive care as they suffer from their conditions,” Dr. Levine said. “The proposed regulations comment period provides an opportunity to participate in developing the program to meet your needs as a patient. Your input as to how these regulations will affect you is invaluable and will assist the department in implementing this program as effectively as possible.”
Patients and caregivers can view the draft regulations and provide feedback by visiting the Medical Marijuana portion of the Department of Health website. Comments will be accepted until October 2.
“Every day, we hear from patients who are desperately waiting for this program to be fully implemented,” Dr. Levine said. “We have made significant progress in getting this program off the ground since Governor Wolf signed the Medical Marijuana Act into law last year. These proposed regulations for patients and caregivers to participate are one of the final pieces we need to have in place to launch the program sometime next year.”
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 300 applications;
Completed temporary regulations for growers/processors, dispensaries, physicians and laboratories, all which have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
Issued permits to grower/processors and dispensaries;
Created the Medical Marijuana Physician Workgroup;
Approved three training providers for physician and medical professional continuing education;
Approved two laboratories to test medication before it is sold to dispensaries and dispensed to patients; and
Continued to work with permittees to ensure they will be operational by the end of this year.
The Medical Marijuana Program became effective on May 17, 2016, and is expected to be fully implemented by 2018. The program will offer medical marijuana to patients who are residents of Pennsylvania and under a physician’s care for the treatment of a serious medical condition as defined by the Medical Marijuana Act.
Questions about the Medical Marijuana Program can be emailed to RA-DHMedMarijuana@pa.gov. Information is also available on the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov.
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MEDIA CONTACT: April Hutcheson, 717-787-1783 or ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov
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