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What’s next once medical marijuana becomes legal?

HARRISBURG, Pa. — After a two year legislative battle, the race to legalize medical marijuana reaches the finish line on Sunday. Governor Tom Wolf has pro...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- After a two year legislative battle, the race to legalize medical marijuana reaches the finish line on Sunday. Governor Tom Wolf has promised to sign Senate Bill 3 into law inside the Capitol Rotunda, making Pennsylvania the 24th state in the nation to legalize the use of medical cannabis.

Once law, however, the full implementation of Pennsylvania's medical marijuana program will take approximately 18 to 24 months.

Run through the Department of Health, the state will have the opportunity to license up to 25 growers and 50 dispensaries. Each dispensary can operate up to three locations. Dispensaries and growers cannot be located within 1,000 feet of day-care centers and schools, unless given a waiver. Patients cannot grow their own medical marijuana.

If you're planning on getting licensed to be a grower or dispenser, you better have big pockets. Growers are asked to submit a $10,000 application fee, a $200,000 registration fee, have $2 million in capital and $500,000 deposited in a bank account. To open a dispensary, it will cost a $5,000 application fee, a $30,000 registration fee for each location, and $150,000 in the bank. Fees could generate up to $7 million in revenue for the state in 2016-17.

Patients, along with growers and dispensaries, will be monitored by the Department of Health in a database. There are 17 conditions which have been approved for medical marijuana use: Cancer, HIV/AIDS, ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), Parkinson's Disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Huntington's disease, Crohn's disease, chronic pain, PTSD, sickle cell anemia, and autism. The list also includes conditions which involve nervous tissue damage to a spinal cord, inflammatory bowel disease, and neuropathies.

When it becomes available, medical marijuana will be available in pills, oils, topical forms such as gels, creams, and ointments, as well liquids and vaporization. Smoking marijuana will still be illegal in Pennsylvania. Edible forms of marijuana will not be sold, but people can take their cannabis and make it into something edible at home.

Despite the fact marijuana is likely unavailable in Pennsylvania for another one to two years, SB3 allows for the purchase of the drug for minor patients from another state which has legalized medical cannabis laws. Neighboring New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland are among the 23 states which have legalized marijuana for medical use.  Adult patients will not be able to get their medicine from another legal state for at least 6 months or more.

 

 

 

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