Pennsylvania appears poised to join 22 other states in allowing medical marijuana to be given patients suffering from various diseases and ailments, some terminal.

House lawmakers relented Wednesday after years of resistance, voting 149-43 in favor of dispensing as a prescription what many have viewed as an illegal gateway drug. Final Senate approval of the amended bill is expected, as is the signature of Gov. Tom Wolf.

The House had blocked such a measure for years. But shifting political winds caused in part by the unending determination of parents of suffering children led to passage of a bill allowing cannabis to be grown, processed and dispensed.

Pennsylvania would become the 23rd state, along with Washington, D.C., and Guam, to make cannabis a medical option for young and old alike. [Read more at the Allentown Morning Call]