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Pennsylvania medical marijuana patients just got one step closer to getting cannabis

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Pennsylvania Acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine speaks at the Capitol Rotunda, Harrisburg, Nov. 1, 2017. The state unveiled its medical marijuana patient and caregiver registry, considered a big step toward patients getting medical marijuana. (Brett Sholtis)

Pennsylvania has launched a medical marijuana registry connecting patients and doctors.

With the registry online, state Department of Health officials say patients should have medical marijuana within six months.

Acting Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine says more than 100 physicians have been approved to recommend medical marijuana to patients, while 200 more applicants await approval.

Levine says the push is toward getting more doctors onboard.

“It’s absolutely critically important that we have physicians in many different specialties throughout the Commonwealth to register and take the education and become practitioners in the programs,” she says.

Hummelstown, Dauphin County resident Adrienne Leasa says it’s been a long fight since 2012 when she began working to see medical marijuana legalized.

Leasa is HIV positive, and hopes cannabis will fight nausea and other side effects of her medications.

She says cancer patients and others will also benefit from medical marijuana. She saw her father suffer and die after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, and says the drug will help others in similar situations.

“Since I can’t help my father, I want to be able to help everyone else that can be helped by this,” she says.

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Adrienne Leasa stands for a portrait in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg. The 40-year-old Hummelstown, Dauphin County resident has fought for medical marijuana in Pennsylvania since 2012. (Brett Sholtis)

Still, uncertainty shadows the program. The state has faced criticism for approving permits by using a panel of state officials who remain anonymous. In September, an unsuccessful grower/processor license applicant, Keystone ReLeaf LLC, filed a lawsuit against the department. Keystone ReLeaf wants the state to take back its permits and start the process over.

Levine, as well as Medical Marijuana office director John Collins, declined to say whether a lawsuit might delay the rollout of the program.


Brett Sholtis
Brett Sholtis

Brett Sholtis was a health reporter for WITF/Transforming Health until early 2023. Sholtis is the 2021-2022 Reveal Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal Grantee for Mental Health Investigative Journalism with the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. His award-winning work on problem areas in mental health policy and policing helped to get a woman moved from a county jail to a psychiatric facility. Sholtis is a University of Pittsburgh graduate and a Pennsylvania Army National Guard Kosovo campaign veteran.

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