Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Upper Merion - Passage of legislation that legalized medical marijuana in Pennsylvania marked the end of seven long, hard years of negotiation. Now that Gov. Tom Wolf has signed the measure into law, the push is on to explain the ramifications, including possible business opportunities tied to the medical marijuana field, including a couple that are being bandied about here in Delaware County.
Wolf, who had adamantly backed the bill through approval by both the House and Senate, swiftly added his signature, which made the bill law.
That kicked off the long process of working within the boundaries that the Commonwealth agreed upon to bring cannabis to medical patients. Doctors will need to be certified; growers and processors will need to establish a business model; and licenses for 150 dispensaries will be issued in the next year.
Last Friday at Saint Joseph's University, the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 3, Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, of Haverford and Upper Merion, held a regulatory conference bringing cannabis entrepreneurs, medical professionals, patients, advocates and data analysts from all over the country to help shape the regulations on the front-end of discussions in bringing pot to the people of Pennsylvania.
"There's public comment at the end of regulatory periods, but it's not the same as coming up with recommendations before the regulations are drafted and to interact with other people who might have a different opinions," Leach said.
John Kagia, the director of Industry Analytics of New Frontier, a data-collection firm that monitors medical marijuana sales, arrived from Washington, D.C., to express the importance of an open and transparent system.
"We want to share our perspective on the role that a robust, transparent process plays in the success of the program, and the role that being able to collect and publicly disseminate data on the programs, how valuable that is in ensuring that all of the stakeholders in the industry are able to effectively structure their respective roles," Kagia said.
Many of the specifics of regulating medical marijuana will be refined, down to including the details of what fungicides or pesticides were used in the process, to which kind of child-safe containers the medication should come in.
Kagia added that the process doesn't simply apply to the manufacturing and dispensing side of the medical marijuana business, but especially to the "regulators and the legislators who need the data in order to tell if a program is doing what it's set up to do."
While the law may be in effect, medical care organizations can continue to use their own discretion in recommending or prescribing medical marijuana to patients. Adrienne Leasa administrates Pennsylvania Cannabis Patients and Caregivers Union, a group that teaches patients how to make hash oil concentrates and how to obtain it if they reside in legal states.
"Most of the large health care organizations in Pennsylvania have come out and said they will not let their doctors come out and prescribe medical marijuana," Leasa said. "That's a huge roadblock."
Leasa, a Downingtown, Chester County resident, was one of many patients in attendance who said it was important to be involved in the regulatory process. After contracting Cryptococcal meningitis due to a severely compromised immune system after contracting AIDS, Leasa said it took only nine months to get to an undetectable viral load.
"Basically without treatment I would have died in six weeks," Leasa said. "It takes most full-blown AIDS patients six to 10 years, and I used cannabis oil along with my antiretrovirals, that's the only difference."
On the business-side, many professionals are finding a new frontier in Pennsylvania as the medical marijuana industry grows. Justin Carey, Vice President of Strategy for Pa. Wellness, a Philadelphia-based consulting firm in the medical cannabis industry, said that while Friday's event was "definitely a business focus," the big push moving forward would be with educating medical professionals in best practices.
"There has been a particular focus on education for practitioners and doctors to understand the benefits of the CBD and THC medicines for particular ailments and chronic conditions and I think that will trickle down," Carey said. "The patients will be educated by their doctors, but there's a lot of talk about how to educate the doctors to provide proper recommendations."
Part of the recommendations by the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, which was established within the Pennsylvania Department of Health, is that dispensaries will staff a full-time physician to help prescribe the proper amounts and kinds of medical cannabis, whether it is a THC-derived medications to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by cancer medications, or the non-psychoactive CBD that helps stem seizures in children.
"It's very expensive to have a $150,000-a-year physician at every dispensary," said Lolly Bench, the administrator of Campaign Compassion, a group devoted to the advancement of medical marijuana advocacy and education, whose daughter benefits from cannabis-oil treatment.
"You can't throw a stone without finding somebody that already has their loved one or themselves on it, because very quickly I think we all realized that we would never be able to wait around for the Legislature to make this decision, nor should anyone wait around for it," Bench said.
Earlier in the month Dr. Howard Strauss, a retired dentist who owns and serves as director of the AIDS Care Group located in Sharon Hill, brought to the Trainer Borough Council a proposal of bringing a medical marijuana distribution center to the site of the former Rick's Restaurant and Tavern along Ninth Street. He was met with pushback from residents fearing increased crime and lowered property value.
"People are asking, 'why here?'" Trainer Police Chief Francis Proscopo said. "But, why does it have to be a bad thing? Business begets business."
Strauss declined to comment for this story.
According to Senate Bill 3, certain start-up costs will be required in order to legitimize the business. First, a $5,000 non-refundable application fee must be submitted through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which is currently developing a temporary regulations for marijuana businesses. A $30,000 registration fee must be submitted with the application, but it can be refunded if not granted. And the owner must have $150,000 of required capital by the department on deposit.
As for regulations, Leach expressed that nothing was set in stone, that as information becomes more apparent, which is why professional data analysts are involved with the process, the regulations can be adapted down the line.
"As additional regulations or changes in regulations become relevant, assuming there's a regulatory body that's sympathetic with those changes, it's just a question of issuing new regulations," Leach said.
Kagia said that medical marijuana is given much more leeway in the regulation and development process due to its extreme unlikelihood of overdosing. Physical therapists like Cheryl West, who suggests medical marijuana as treatment, said many of the issues patients in Pennsylvania will face aren't from the medication itself, but will be from developing wheelchair accessible dispensaries and affordable medication for patients since it won't be covered on Medicare.
They both agreed that patient practices will shape the regulations in a more significant way than clinical trials would.
"Xanax is not the kind of medication that you throw up against a wall and see what sticks," Kagia said. "With cannabis because it is almost biomedical, impossible to consume enough cannabis to kill you, you completely eliminate the risk of overdosing ... which is why physicians are comfortable saying, 'see if it works for you.'"
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Senator Daylin Leach Paves Way For Medical Marijuana In Pennsylvania
Author: Rick Kauffman
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Delaware County News Network
Wolf, who had adamantly backed the bill through approval by both the House and Senate, swiftly added his signature, which made the bill law.
That kicked off the long process of working within the boundaries that the Commonwealth agreed upon to bring cannabis to medical patients. Doctors will need to be certified; growers and processors will need to establish a business model; and licenses for 150 dispensaries will be issued in the next year.
Last Friday at Saint Joseph's University, the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 3, Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, of Haverford and Upper Merion, held a regulatory conference bringing cannabis entrepreneurs, medical professionals, patients, advocates and data analysts from all over the country to help shape the regulations on the front-end of discussions in bringing pot to the people of Pennsylvania.
"There's public comment at the end of regulatory periods, but it's not the same as coming up with recommendations before the regulations are drafted and to interact with other people who might have a different opinions," Leach said.
John Kagia, the director of Industry Analytics of New Frontier, a data-collection firm that monitors medical marijuana sales, arrived from Washington, D.C., to express the importance of an open and transparent system.
"We want to share our perspective on the role that a robust, transparent process plays in the success of the program, and the role that being able to collect and publicly disseminate data on the programs, how valuable that is in ensuring that all of the stakeholders in the industry are able to effectively structure their respective roles," Kagia said.
Many of the specifics of regulating medical marijuana will be refined, down to including the details of what fungicides or pesticides were used in the process, to which kind of child-safe containers the medication should come in.
Kagia added that the process doesn't simply apply to the manufacturing and dispensing side of the medical marijuana business, but especially to the "regulators and the legislators who need the data in order to tell if a program is doing what it's set up to do."
While the law may be in effect, medical care organizations can continue to use their own discretion in recommending or prescribing medical marijuana to patients. Adrienne Leasa administrates Pennsylvania Cannabis Patients and Caregivers Union, a group that teaches patients how to make hash oil concentrates and how to obtain it if they reside in legal states.
"Most of the large health care organizations in Pennsylvania have come out and said they will not let their doctors come out and prescribe medical marijuana," Leasa said. "That's a huge roadblock."
Leasa, a Downingtown, Chester County resident, was one of many patients in attendance who said it was important to be involved in the regulatory process. After contracting Cryptococcal meningitis due to a severely compromised immune system after contracting AIDS, Leasa said it took only nine months to get to an undetectable viral load.
"Basically without treatment I would have died in six weeks," Leasa said. "It takes most full-blown AIDS patients six to 10 years, and I used cannabis oil along with my antiretrovirals, that's the only difference."
On the business-side, many professionals are finding a new frontier in Pennsylvania as the medical marijuana industry grows. Justin Carey, Vice President of Strategy for Pa. Wellness, a Philadelphia-based consulting firm in the medical cannabis industry, said that while Friday's event was "definitely a business focus," the big push moving forward would be with educating medical professionals in best practices.
"There has been a particular focus on education for practitioners and doctors to understand the benefits of the CBD and THC medicines for particular ailments and chronic conditions and I think that will trickle down," Carey said. "The patients will be educated by their doctors, but there's a lot of talk about how to educate the doctors to provide proper recommendations."
Part of the recommendations by the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, which was established within the Pennsylvania Department of Health, is that dispensaries will staff a full-time physician to help prescribe the proper amounts and kinds of medical cannabis, whether it is a THC-derived medications to prevent nausea and vomiting caused by cancer medications, or the non-psychoactive CBD that helps stem seizures in children.
"It's very expensive to have a $150,000-a-year physician at every dispensary," said Lolly Bench, the administrator of Campaign Compassion, a group devoted to the advancement of medical marijuana advocacy and education, whose daughter benefits from cannabis-oil treatment.
"You can't throw a stone without finding somebody that already has their loved one or themselves on it, because very quickly I think we all realized that we would never be able to wait around for the Legislature to make this decision, nor should anyone wait around for it," Bench said.
Earlier in the month Dr. Howard Strauss, a retired dentist who owns and serves as director of the AIDS Care Group located in Sharon Hill, brought to the Trainer Borough Council a proposal of bringing a medical marijuana distribution center to the site of the former Rick's Restaurant and Tavern along Ninth Street. He was met with pushback from residents fearing increased crime and lowered property value.
"People are asking, 'why here?'" Trainer Police Chief Francis Proscopo said. "But, why does it have to be a bad thing? Business begets business."
Strauss declined to comment for this story.
According to Senate Bill 3, certain start-up costs will be required in order to legitimize the business. First, a $5,000 non-refundable application fee must be submitted through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, which is currently developing a temporary regulations for marijuana businesses. A $30,000 registration fee must be submitted with the application, but it can be refunded if not granted. And the owner must have $150,000 of required capital by the department on deposit.
As for regulations, Leach expressed that nothing was set in stone, that as information becomes more apparent, which is why professional data analysts are involved with the process, the regulations can be adapted down the line.
"As additional regulations or changes in regulations become relevant, assuming there's a regulatory body that's sympathetic with those changes, it's just a question of issuing new regulations," Leach said.
Kagia said that medical marijuana is given much more leeway in the regulation and development process due to its extreme unlikelihood of overdosing. Physical therapists like Cheryl West, who suggests medical marijuana as treatment, said many of the issues patients in Pennsylvania will face aren't from the medication itself, but will be from developing wheelchair accessible dispensaries and affordable medication for patients since it won't be covered on Medicare.
They both agreed that patient practices will shape the regulations in a more significant way than clinical trials would.
"Xanax is not the kind of medication that you throw up against a wall and see what sticks," Kagia said. "With cannabis because it is almost biomedical, impossible to consume enough cannabis to kill you, you completely eliminate the risk of overdosing ... which is why physicians are comfortable saying, 'see if it works for you.'"
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: Senator Daylin Leach Paves Way For Medical Marijuana In Pennsylvania
Author: Rick Kauffman
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: Delaware County News Network
