• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Business Directory
    • Buyers | Licensees
    • Sellers | Ancillary Businesses
    • Submit Product & Service Press Release
  • CBE Exchange
  • CBE Jobs Exchange
  • Events
  • Featured Videos
  • Product & Service Press Releases
  • Sponsored Polls
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Archived Webinars
  • Whitepapers

Cannabis Business Executive - Cannabis and Marijuana industry news

Recreational, Medical, Marijuana, Cannabis, And Hemp News for Cannabis Businesses

  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2
  • Home
  • Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • International
      • Canada
      • Mexico
      • Israel
    • US A to F
      • Alabama
      • Alaska
      • Arizona
      • Arkansas
      • California
      • Colorado
      • Connecticut
      • Delaware
      • District of Columbia
      • Florida
    • US G to M
      • Georgia
      • Hawaii
      • Illinois
      • Indiana
      • Idaho
      • Iowa
      • Kansas
      • Kentucky
      • Louisiana
      • Maine
      • Maryland
      • Massachusetts
    • US M to N
      • Michigan
      • Minnesota
      • Mississippi
      • Missouri
      • Montana
      • Nebraska
      • Nevada
      • New Hampshire
      • New Jersey
      • New Mexico
      • New York
      • North Carolina
      • North Dakota
    • US O to V
      • Ohio
      • Oklahoma
      • Oregon
      • Pennsylvania
      • Rhode Island
      • South Carolina
      • South Dakota
      • Tennessee
      • Texas
      • Utah
      • Vermont
    • US V to W
      • Virginia
      • Washington
      • Wisconsin
      • Wyoming
      • Guam
      • Puerto Rico
  • Industry News
    • Advertising, Marketing, PR & Research
    • Banking, Finance & Real Estate
    • Compliance and Regulations
    • Corporate Social Responsibility
    • Retailers
    • Hemp Business Executive
    • HR and Staffing
    • North Of The Border
    • Industry People/On the Move
    • Packaging and Supplies
    • Press Releases
    • Processors
    • Producers
    • Security Solutions
    • Science and Technology
    • South Of The Border
  • CBE Lists
    • Ancillary Businesses
      • 2019 CBE Ancillary Business Survey CLICK HERE
      • 2018 CBE 155 A/B
      • 2017 CBE 150 A/B
      • 2016 CBE 100 A/B
    • Producers, Processors, Retailers
      • 2017 CBE 200 PPRs
      • 2015 CBE 100 PPRs
    • Industry Women
      • Glass Ceiling Wreckers: 2019 CBE Power Women of Cannabis
      • 2017 CBE 75 Most Important Women
      • 2016 CBE Top 50 Women
      • 2014 CBE Most Influential Women
    • Most Important Companies
      • 2016 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
      • 2014 CBE 10 Most Important Companies
    • Political 100
      • 2017 CBE Political 100
      • 2016 CBE 100 Political
      • 2014 CBE Political 50
    • 2014 CBE 100 Most Important People
    • CBE RFP Hotlists
      • 2014 CBE Lab Testing Services HotList
      • 2016 BHO Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Supercritical CO2 Extraction Equipment
      • 2016 CBE Security Solutions
      • 2016 Edibles & Infused Products
  • Company Stories
    • Up and Comers
  • Hemp Business Executive
    • Hemp Policy & Legal
    • Hemp Industry News
  • Newsletters
    • CBE Week
    • CBE Human Capital Management
    • CBE Technology & Solutions
    • CBE Policy and Legal Update
    • CBE Product and Service Announcements
  • Op-Ed
    • Cartoons
    • The Buck Stops Here
    • Opinions
    • Comments
  • Associations
  • State Regulatory Agencies
  • Contact
  • Last Chance to Submit for the 2019 CBE Ancillary Business List CLICK HERE
You are here: Home / Policy & Legal / Pennsylvania / Medical Marijuana Is Finally Coming to the Keystone State
Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Pennsylvania’s Medical Cannabis program

Medical Marijuana Is Finally Coming to the Keystone State

February 29, 2016 by Steven Schain Leave a Comment

Following 14 excruciating months of infighting and delays, Pennsylvania legislators are expected to legalize medical marijuana at their next session’s March 14, 2016 kickoff.

Specifically, Pennsylvania’s State House will vote on “Senate Bill 3” which the Senate overwhelmingly approved in a different form on Jan. 26, 2015.

In the interim, Senate Bill 3 was substantially modified increasing the covered medical conditions, limiting the allowable cannabis forms and imposing a “THC cap,” reducing the number of permitted growers, processors and dispensaries, and vesting legalized marijuana’s oversight and regulation with Pennsylvania’s Department of Health and its’ newly created “Advisory Board.”

Medicine of marijuana and “serious medical conditions”

Marijuana contains 85 “cannabinoids,” chemical compounds secreted by cannabis flowers like Tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) and Cannabidiol (“CBD”).

Cannabinoids imitate “endocannabinoids,” compounds our bodies naturally produce, which maintain internal stability and health, provide relief to symptoms including insomnia, pain, epilepsy, depression, nausea and inflammation, and have been synthesized for legal prescription in products like Marinol, Nabilone, and Rimonabant.

Containing five (5) more ailments than its predecessor, Senate Bill 3 currently lists following “serious medical conditions” treatable with medical marijuana:

  1. Cancer;
  2. HIV Positive or AIDS;
  3. ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease);
  4. Parkinson’s disease;
  5. Multiple Sclerosis;
  6. Spinal cord injury;
  7. Epilepsy;
  8. Inflammatory bowel disease;
  9. Neuropathies;
  10. Huntington’s disease;
  11. Crohn’s disease;
  12. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD);
  13. Intractable seizures;
  14. Glaucoma; and,
  15. Severe chronic or intractable pain that is neuropathic or impervious to conventional treatment.

Allowable cannabis forms and THC cap

Senate Bill 3 expressly prohibits smoking marijuana or incorporating it into an “edible,” and limits the forms in which it may be dispensed to pills, oils, topicals (e.x., gel, creams or ointments), “a form medically appropriate for administration by vaporization or nebulization,” tinctures (liquid extracts) or liquids.

Further, like neighboring New Jersey, Senate Bill 3 presently imposes a 10 percent limit on dispensed marijuana’s THC content. While intending to reduce possibility of being consumed for recreational purposes, the THC cap limits dispensed marijuana’s ability to relieve targeted symptoms. 

Process for obtaining medical marijuana

To obtain and possess medical marijuana, Senate Bill 3 requires patients and their caregivers to apply for state-issued cards that have a year’s validity and permit obtaining up to a 30 day supply.

Those under 18 may apply through a caregiver and each medical marijuana card may be renewed annually.

Senate Bill 3 requires creating a state-run “marijuana program information electronic database” including “medical marijuana using patients'” information which is to be kept confidential.

Permitted grower/processors/dispensaries

Senate Bill 3 initially allows up to 25 licensed grower/processors and 50 licensed dispensaries allowed to operate up to three (3) locations, i.e., 150 total dispensaries.

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists and others involved in caring for, and issuing prescriptions to, medical marijuana patients will have to undergo standardized training and certification.

Senate Bill 3 also establishes a fee schedule charging:

  1. Growers-processors a $10,000 application fee, $200,000 registration fee, and $10,000 annual renewal fee; and,
  2. Dispensaries a $5,000 application fee, $30,000 registration fee and $5,000 annual renewal fee.

Growers-processors must also pay a 5 percent state tax, the proceeds from which will subsidize research, abuse programs and financially challenged card holders.

Oversight/regulations

Unlike Colorado or Washington which administer legalized marijuana programs through respective “Marijuana Enforcement Division” and “Liquor Control Board,” Senate Bill 3 appoints Pennsylvania’s Department of Health to oversee its program and creates a special advisory board.

Senate Bill 3 requires promulgating permanent medical marijuana regulations within 18 months addressing:

  • Advertising and marketing;
  • Indoor, enclosed facility‘s growing methods;
  • “Certification review and approval procedures” for patients and practitioners, identification cards applications, medical marijuana organization applications, laboratory testing reporting results, medical marijuana testing laboratories and filing dispensary-generated receipts;
  • Dispensary’s maximum per-dose price;
  • Grower/processor’s “transporting, delivering, growing, processing and selling” methods;
  • Dispensary’s dispensing methods including saleable types of medical devices and instruments;
  • Methods for maintaining effective security and control to prevent theft and abuse including specifying tracking system requirements; contents, timing and frequency of filing reports with Department;
  • Proper electronic information;
  • Labeling information requirements;
  • Criteria for designating under-18-patient’s caregiver;
  • Safety insert’s contents;
  • Inspection schedule for “grow/process/dispense” facilities and required “books, papers and tracking systems;”
  • Research study regulations regarding patient selection and program implementation;
  • Regulations ensuring that “valid registration holding” growers, processors, and dispensaries provide/procure medical marijuana from/to each other; and,
  • Minimum number and types of medical marijuana to be produced and dispensed.

Contextual Link – Nexus November

Contextual Link – Cova November

Filed Under: Pennsylvania Tagged With: Keystone State, medical marijuana, Pennsylvania

About The Author:

Steven Schain

2019 National Law Journal “Finance, Banking, & Capital Markets Trailblazer” award winner, Steve Schain chairs global cannabis law firm Hoban Law Group’s PA and New Jersey practice and chairs its Financial Services Group.  Steve represents entities, governments and individuals in litigation, regulation, compliance, preparing and submitting license applications and entity formation, and drafting legislation.

Steve can be reached at [email protected].

Primary Sidebar

Ad: Sidebar 1

Featured Video

Associations & Organizations

clearing div

Ad: Sidebar 2

Business Directory

Ad: Skyscraper 1

CBE Jobs Exchange


Featured Jobs
Go
Post a Job
More jobs
Powered by CBEJobsExchange.com

RSS Recent Jobs

  • Resource Protection Specialist I/II (Permanent and Limited Term) - County of San Luis Obispo - San Luis Obispo, CA
  • LC/MS Lab Manager Biomarker Discovery - VRS Recruitment - , ME
  • Senior Bioinformatics Scientist - Medicinal Genomics Corp. - Beverly,

Product & Service Press Releases

Ad: Sidebar 3

CBE Events

Ad: Sidebar 4

State Regulatory Agencies

Ad: Skyscraper 2

Webinars

Ad: Sidebar 5

Associations & Organizations

Ad: Sidebar 6

Featured Video

Ad: Skyscraper 3

Business Directory

Ad: Sidebar 7

CBE Jobs Exchange

Ad: Sidebar 8

CBE Events

Ad: Skyscraper 4

Industry Blogs



Footer

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • CBE Press LLC Privacy Statement
  • Contribute
  • Contributors
  • Newsletters
  • Terms of Service
  • Contributor Login
  • Follow on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Follow on Google+
  • Follow on LinkedIn
  • Subscribe to our RSS feed
Newsletter 2

© Copyright 2018 CBE PRESS LLC. - All Rights Reserved. Cannabis Business Executive Is A Trademark Of CBE PRESS LLC. · All Rights Reserved · And Our Sitemap · All Logos & Trademarks Belong To Their Respective Owners·