New limits and oversight for Pa.’s medical marijuana doctors proposed in response to Spotlight PA investigation

Story by Ed Mahon from Spotlight PA

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HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Health will have the authority to impose new restrictions on doctors who want to work in the state’s medical marijuana program under legislation prompted by a Spotlight PA investigation.

Earlier this month, a group of Republican lawmakers in the state House of Representatives a bill This would give regulators the authority to impose a set of conditions on individual doctors who want to certify medical marijuana patients. In Pennsylvania, patients need a doctor’s approval to obtain a medical marijuana card and purchase marijuana from dispensaries.

According to the bill, the ministry may place a physician on probation and limit the number of patient certificates the physician can issue during a certain period determined by the ministry. The Ministry of Health may also impose a reporting obligation and require the physician to be supervised by another physician.

The action follows a Spotlight PA investigation. published in augustfound that the health department rarely bars practitioners from participating in the state’s medical marijuana program based on past discipline. This includes a doctor who received a federal prison sentence in the early 2000s after pleading guilty to drug distribution-related charges.

The investigation also found a wide disparity in the frequency with which some doctors approved patients for medical marijuana cards.

Department records show that of the nearly 1,300 physicians issuing at least one medical marijuana certification in 2022, most have fewer than 100. But that year, some doctors pressed several thousand, and three pressed more than 11,000.

The bill’s primary sponsor, State Rep. Tim Twardzik (R., Schuylkill), cited Spotlight PA’s investigation: I’m saying this It “revealed deficiencies in the Medical Marijuana Act,” particularly regarding the department’s “limited authority to impose conditions or deny applications based on a physician’s prior conduct.”

The legislation would also bar doctors from participating in the program as practitioners if they are convicted of a felony. state drug law in the previous five years.

The bill leaves some details of oversight up to the department, such as which doctors deserve extra scrutiny. To advance in the Democrat-controlled State House, the bill will need to be considered by the Health Committee. State Rep. Kathy Rapp (R., Warren), a co-sponsor of the bill, is the panel’s minority chair.

But State Rep. Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny), who as committee chairman decides which bills to consider, previously told Spotlight PA that there are more important issues for medical marijuana patients’ health than “underqualified doctors.” ”

In an August interview, Twardzik acknowledged the difficult path this or any legislation faces in Harrisburg.

“This job is interesting,” he told Spotlight PA, adding that he had been told “once you have an idea for a bill, it takes about six years to get to the finish line.”

Still, he said, occasionally lawmakers find significant problems they can fix right away.

The state’s medical marijuana law currently gives the department the authority to decide which doctors can certify patients and is responsible for determining whether each doctor is qualified. However, the law does not specifically address whether the ministry can impose additional restrictions and controls on some of the doctors Twardzik recommends.

Earlier this year, a lawyer for the department explained the limits of its oversight authority: As Spotlight previously reported. In an administrative lawsuit, the attorney wrote that the state’s medical marijuana laws and regulations do not give the Bureau of Medical Marijuana “the same investigative resources or authority to require extra requirements to prove compliance” that other agencies, including a licensing board, have. .

A Department of Health spokesperson told Spotlight PA the agency does not comment on pending legislation.

Twardzik’s proposal may face resistance from the state’s marijuana industry. Meredith Buettner Schneider, executive director of the Pennsylvania Cannabis Coalition, told Spotlight PA she is concerned that the proposed authority to limit the number of physician certifications could limit patient access.

Others called for change in response to Spotlight PA’s investigation in August.

Jeff Hanley, chief executive of the Commonwealth Prevention AllianceThe nonprofit organization, which focuses on substance use issues, said the story highlights the critical need for a “comprehensive review” of Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program. He suggested examining a number of topics. Subject of previous Spotlight PA investigationsincluding lists of qualifying conditions for patients, advertising guidelines, and practices of third-party companies that connect doctors and patients.

William Stauffer, one of Pennsylvania’s leading recovery advocates, also weighedHe said he hoped “the story will be a wake-up call for the state government and beyond.”

Stauffer wrote that the story shows “a system in which marijuana-related harms are either an afterthought or a barrier to getting marijuana into the hands of as many people as possible.”

Currently, only licensed medical doctors and doctors of osteopathic medicine can certify patients for a medical marijuana card in Pennsylvania, although the state’s health secretary has obtained the card. Suggestions for expanding this list involving podiatrists and nurse practitioners. Doctors must apply for and complete a four-hour training course to be included in the ministry’s list of approved doctors.

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