In a move that may encourage Pennsylvania doctors to get certified to recommend medical marijuana, the state’s Department of Health has established a physician working group to help implement its new MMJ law.
It’s an important issue because in some states, medical cannabis programs have suffered because of a lack of physicians willing to recommend cannabis.
“Physicians and their medical expertise are crucial to the success of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program, and we will continue to engage them throughout the process to ensure their medical expertise is heard on behalf of patients,” the state’s health secretary, Dr. Karen Murphy, told the Philadelphia Business Journal.
The health department expects to complete temporary regulations for growers and processors by the end of August, and has said the program could be up and running by early 2018, according to the paper.
Temporary regulations for dispensaries, laboratories, physicians, patients, and caregivers will be released sequentially.
Representatives in the working group hail from more than a dozen prominent medical entities, including Penn State Health, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and the University of Pennsylvania Health System’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.
