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On December 19, 2018, PA Governor Tom Wolf tweeted more and more states were successfully implementing marijuana legalization, and PA needed to keep learning from their efforts. Change would take legislation. “But I think it is time for Pennsylvania to take a serious and honest look at recreational marijuana.” Then on January 3, 2019 Pittsburgh state Representative Jake Wheatley proposed the commonwealth legalize recreational marijuana, saying House Bill 50 would provide for social justice reforms, incentivize cannabis businesses to partner with PA farmers, and well as invest in student forgiveness, after school programs and affordable housing. We need to do what is best for the people of Pennsylvania and legalize cannabis this Legislative Session.”
Governor Wolf said: “I’m just trying to be a realist, that this is something we really ought to be taking a look at in a way that maybe we haven’t before.” But he didn’t intend to make it a priority of his second term. However, he also thought Pennsylvania shouldn’t hide her head in the sand and say things aren’t happening in other states in the region.
I’m just saying I’m going to look at what’s going on in the neighboring states and see if we can continue to learn from them and other states that have, through referendum and legislative action, legalized it, and see what maybe we ought to be doing. I’m just keeping my eyes open.
The Republican-controlled chambers of the General Assembly are opposed to the bill. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman called the idea “reckless and irresponsible,” while his counterpart in the House, Majority Leader Bryan Cutler, opposed the medical marijuana passed in 2016. Corman said, “As long as I as leader, I will do everything in my power to prevent legalization of recreational marijuana.” He added that it gives the wrong message to our youth.
Then on September 25th Governor Wolf announced that he was now in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Lt. Governor John Fetterman, who had spent months on a statewide recreational marijuana listening tour, stood beside him. Governor Wolf said, “I think it’s time for the General Assembly to sit down and craft a bill that actually recognizes that Pennsylvania is ready for this, and also takes advantage of what we’ve learned from other states in terms of what to do and what not to do.” On October 15th, 2019, two state senators introduced Senate Bill 350, which would allow for home delivery and the expungement of many previous criminal convictions related to marijuana. See the link for key high lights of the Bill.
Some have doubts that the proposed Adult-Use Cannabis Act will pass this year, especially in its current form, as there are no Republican co-sponsors at this time. The bill also faces an uphill battle in Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Senate, although Senators Leach and Street have indicated that they are optimistic the bill will pass and that many of their Republican colleagues will end up supporting the measure. Generally, the legislation is thought to stand a better chance than prior efforts in light of the Lt. Governor’s listening tour and the Governor’s recently announced support of legalization. With that said, in response to Gov. Wolf’s comments promoting legalization, House Republican leaders issued a statement less than one month ago criticizing Gov. Wolf’s position and stating that “[o]ur caucus has no plans or interest in legalizing recreational marijuana.” It is also worth noting that Senator Leach also co-sponsored Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis legislation, which reportedly also lacked any Republican co-sponsors initially.
Pennsylvanians are facing a purposeful and strategic scheme to get recreational marijuana legalized in their state. It began with Governor Wolf signing Senate Bill 3, legalizing medical marijuana on April 17, 2016. Initially, the approved conditions were limited to 17 “serious medical conditions.” Those conditions have expanded from 17 to 23 since then, as seen on the PA website, under Qualifying Conditions. Anxiety, Dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders, opioid use disorder, terminal illness and Tourette syndrome have been added; and a few have been relaxed, such as Cancer now has added “including remission therapy.”
At first, dried leaves, plant material and edibles were strictly prohibited. Only those forms of medical marijuana listed in Act 16 were permitted. They included: 1) a form medically appropriate to administer by vaporization or nebulization; 2) pills; 3) topical forms, including gels, creams or ointments; 4) tinctures; 5) liquids; or 6) oils. Also, a licensed practitioner or medical professional determined which form is appropriate for the patient.
At the World Medical Cannabis Conference & Expo held in Pittsburgh in April of 2017, Daylin Leach said he expected medical marijuana would be available in plant form (dry leaf, flower) in 2018. He said a section of Senate Bill 3 authorized an advisory board to make recommendations about whether to change the permissible forms of the drug. During a panel discussion at the Expo, he said the following about the advisory board:
But they will [approve sale of the plant form of marijuana], because we’re appointing people to do that,” Leach said as the crowd laughed. “They will recommend that at latest by April 17 (2018), which means when dispensaries open, it is likely that they will have whole plant on their shelves from day one.
On April 16th, 2018 Governor Wolf announced he supported changes to the existing state medical marijuana program that would allow dispensaries to sell dry leaf marijuana or “flower,” and the PA Health Secretary, Rachael Levine, announced she approved the recommendation from the state’s advisory board to permit the sale of dry leaf “for patients with a qualifying medical condition.” The rationale was their desire to offer a lower-cost option to the forms permitted in Act 16. PA law still prohibited smoking medical marijuana or using it in edible form, but it was unclear how that rule would be enforced once the marijuana was purchased and taken home. Cannabis consumer advocate Chris Goldstein said: “I’m sure patients are going to go home and smoke it, and there’s nothing wrong with it. . . This is how humans have used cannabis for 10,000 years and it’s how people should have access to it in Pennsylvania.”
Now there are six forms of medical marijuana available for consumption in PA: pills, extracts, liquids, topicals, patches, and flower. “Dry leaf/flower” went on sale at PA dispensaries on August 1, 2018. Daylin Leach was off on his time table, but accurate on his prediction that flower would be for sale in the first year.
In its first full year, Pennsylvania collected $2 million in tax revenue from growers and processors. Dispensaries reported $132 million in sales. Dr. Rachael Levine said: “Our goal for the next year and beyond is to increase the number of grower/processors and dispensaries operating, to register even more physicians and to continue the growth of our scientific, medically based program.” There are currently an estimated 72 medical marijuana dispensaries in Pennsylvania, with around 283 more applications for potential dispensaries as of the end of November, 2019. Writing for Law.com, Patrick McKnight said:
Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program is noteworthy for its promotion of scientific testing. As part of the program, the state certifies eight academic clinical research centers. The mission of the clinical program is to conduct, “Research on the therapeutic or palliative efficacy of medical marijuana limited to the serious medical conditions defined by the act and the temporary regulations.” The state also has four approved laboratories for quality testing and sampling.
There are some serious researchers, like Staci Gruber, who are investigating the medical benefits of cannabis. She is an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the director of MIND (Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery). She has done research on the effects of both recreational and medical marijuana. In an interview with The Harvard Gazette, Dr. Gruber said the science on the health effects of marijuana is not yet settled. “When we think about legalization we always like to have science inform policy. In this particular case, it seems to me that policy has outpaced science.”
Gruber said there is a lot we don’t know about the effects of marijuana. Most of what we do know comes from studies of “chronic, recreational marijuana users.” There are differences between recreational and medical marijuana use, with regard to what they use and how they use. She said there has been well-founded excitement about the potential for medical cannabis use. “[But] there’s a striking paucity of research on the use of medical cannabis.”
Dr. Gruber said her goal as a scientist was to provide truthful information so all people, regardless of their recreational or medical status, can understand what is in their cannabis. In pursuit of this goal, Dr. Gruber and her colleague Kelly Sagar continued a discussion of their research with “Marijuana on the Mind?” in Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences. You can also watch an archived webinar by Gruber and Sagar on the same subject, “Marijuana on the Mind: A Primer for Policymakers” on the website Social Science Space, where there are also written answers to some of the questions from the webinar. The presentation exists as an independent YouTube video as well. The audio cuts out a few times, but returns if you continue with the video.
In “Marijuana on the Mind?” Gruber and Sagar gave a helpful review of the history of medical use of marijuana, noting how it was included in the U.S. pharmacopeia (a list of medicinal drugs with their effects and directions for their use) until 1942. They also documented several areas of concern with marijuana, including its adverse effects on cognition, especially executive function and memory; brain development among adolescents; and safety concerns related to the frequency and magnitude of marijuana use as well as its potency. Based upon their discussion, policy recommendations given by Gruber and Sagar include:
- age restrictions based upon evidence highlighting the developmental trajectory of the adolescent brain;
- restrictions on targeting youths in advertisements;
- safe packaging guidelines to prevent the accidental ingestion of edible MJ products by children;
- place limits on THC potency as well as minimums for potentially beneficial cannabinoids in marijuana, like CBD;
- more research on the impact of medical marijuana, which will likely require a lessening of marijuana as a Schedule I substance
PA medical marijuana research would do well to partner with researchers like Gruber and her organization. Let’s allow research and not rhetoric guide the medical uses of the cannabinoids in cannabis. But is Pennsylvania’s commitment to scientific testing real or just window dressing?
Over four years ago in “Marijuana Peek-a-Boo” I suggested a strategy for legalizing recreational marijuana would eat the elephant one bite at a time. Keep the battles going state-by-state and simultaneously keep the federal government out of the fight. Legislatures within the states where marijuana is not yet approved should hear about the income and health benefits of legalizing marijuana, but not the existing problems where it has been approved. Information on the different kinds of cannabinoids in marijuana and their varying medical benefits—some greater than others—needs to be suppressed. Let them think the medical benefits are all or nothing with marijuana and not contingent upon specific cannabinoids within marijuana. The known health problems from smoking marijuana should be minimized or ridiculed.
Gruber and Sagar’s policy recommendations should be seriously considered and implemented by Pennsylvania. Lawmakers should read “Marijuana on the Mind?” and/or watch “Marijuana on the Mind: A Primer for Policy Makers.” They could also read, “Marijuana Policy Has Run Ahead of Science,” which is a discussion of Gruber and Sagar’s article. The scientific testing and research of marijuana by the Commonwealth needs to be seriously and aggressively pursued. The benefits and problems with cannabinoids like THC and CBD need to be researched and described. So far it seems there are limited health benefits from THC. See “Listening to Marijuana Research” or “Marijuana & Adverse Health Effects” for more information on this. Then there are two previous articles I wrote on marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania: “Keep Marijuana Medical in PA” and “Marijuana Stepping Stones In PA?”