Penn State’s College of Medicine has been approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Health as a Certified Academic Clinical Research Center for the state’s medical marijuana program.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced this week that Penn State was among eight universities selected for the Commonwealth to begin clinical research of medical marijuana, something he said will differentiate Pennsylvania from other states.
“The research component of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program sets it apart from the rest of the nation,” Wolf said in a statement. “Today, medical research is so limited by the federal government that only a few doctors can even have access to medical marijuana. Pennsylvania’s premiere medical schools will be able to help shape the future of treatment for patients who are in desperate need not just here, but across the country.”
State law requires that medical marijuana research be financed by the companies that will hold the grower/processor and dispensary permits for the approved universities. Those permits have not yet been awarded, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, so it’s not yet certain when research will begin.
In addition to Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Drexel University College of Medicine, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine were approved as research centers.
The Department of Health also announced this week that it had developed temporary regulations effective Thursday to implement recommendations of the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board.
Those recommendations expand the number of conditions eligible for medical marijuana, including becoming the first state to add opioid-use disorder separately as an approved condition for medical marijuana patients.
“We have expanded the number of serious medical conditions to include neurodegenerative diseases, terminal illness, dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders and opioid-use disorder,” Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said. “It’s important to note that medical marijuana is not a substitute for proven treatments for opioid-use disorder. In Pennsylvania, medical marijuana will be available to patients if all other treatment fails, or if a physician recommends that it be used in conjunction with traditional therapies.”
Medical marijuana also will now be permitted to be dispensed in dry-leaf or plant form for patients to use in a vaporizer.
Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program was signed into law in 2016 and the first dispensaries opened earlier this year. Nature’s Medicine, the first dispensary in Centre County, is expected to open soon on North Atherton Street.
