Pennsylvania: Medical Marijuana Bill Is Within Reach

[Jacob Redmond]

The state budget standoff between Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Republican legislative leaders is likely to roll on through the summer, given their differences over education funding, a shale-gas tax, public pensions, property tax reform, liquor privatization.

Sooner or later the state will have a budget. By necessity.

While that drama plays out, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have a chance to change the lives of sick people: Enact a medical marijuana bill, and do it right.

In May the Senate passed a sensible bill, SB 3. While it limits prescribable marijuana to oils and extracts, with no smokable form, it calls for a workable growing and distribution system. A dozen specified illnesses and conditions would qualify. A special board would oversee the program, including addressing new forms of marijuana that might be developed, and adding diagnoses to the list.

The Senate bill ran into trouble in the House, where Health Committee Chairman Matt Baker, R-Tioga, was determined to bury it. It was transferred to the Rules Committee, but the best hope now rests with a group of House members, including Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh, who are tasked with forging a bill that can pass both houses. Wolf has said he will sign it.

We hope fence-sitting House members will keep a few things in mind as this process goes forward, and not dip into crime-fighting hysteria.

• For an example of how a watered-down medical marijuana program is almost worse than none, look to New Jersey. The limited number of dispensaries, foot-dragging on establishing edible and other forms of marijuana, reluctance of doctors to sign up ... these are signs of political sabotage, not compromise, from a governor afraid of being tagged with a pot-friendly, pro-legalization image as he seeks the presidency.
  
• Check public opinion. A recent Franklin and Marshall College poll shows 87 percent of Pennsylvanians believe medical marijuana should be legal and available to those who need it.
  
• Look at the people lobbying for medical marijuana at the Capitol in Harrisburg – care-givers to the critically ill, parents of children with seizure disorders, all seeking a better form of treatment than harsh and sometimes ineffective prescription drugs.

We wish there were more definitive research on therapeutic marijuana on which to base legislation. That there isn't is largely the fault of a federal government that still considers marijuana as harmful and potentially addictive as heroin and other Schedule 1 drugs, with no beneficial application. Yet an adult can travel to any of four states or the District of Columbia and obtain marijuana for any reason. No prescription needed, no haggling over how to ingest it.

Senate Bill 3 is far from perfect, but it's a start. Schweyer and others on the House panel should remember who's waiting in the wings for this type of relief, and get it done.

News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
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