On April 16th, I wrote that the Pennsylvania (PA) Medical Marijuana Advisory Board had delivered to the PA Department of Health (DOH) a list of its recommendations to increase the serious medical conditions from 17 to 21 and to permit dry leaf flower for sale in dispensaries for patients to use through vaporization. Those recommendations were approved by the DOH's Secretary of Health and were published in tomorrow's PA Bulletin.
Among the approved revisions were:
Changing the definition of ''Severe chronic or intractable pain in which conventional therapeutic intervention and opiate therapy is contraindicated or ineffective'' to ''Severe chronic or intractable pain.''
Changing the definition of ''Cancer'' to ''Cancer; including remission therapy."
Changing the definition of ''Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity'' to ''Damage to the nervous tissue of the CNS (brain-spinal cord) with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, and other associated neurop-athies.''
Adding ''Neurodegenerative Diseases'' to the list of serious medical conditions.
Adding ''terminally ill,'' meaning a medical prognosis of life expectancy of approximately 1 year or less if the illness runs its normal course, to the list of serious medical conditions.
Adding ''Dyskinetic and Spastic Movement Disorders'' to the list of serious medical conditions.
Adding ''Addiction substitute therapy—opioid reduction" to the list of serious medical conditions.
In addition, the DOH has amended temporary regulations for Dispensaries, Grower/Processors, Laboratories, Patients and Caregivers, and Physicians and Practictioners. The DOH also implemented new temporary regulations enforcing Practice and Procedures for appeals to the DOH.
All amended temporary regulations will become effective on May 17, 2018 and expire on May 12, 2020.
Important revisions to the temporary regulations for Physicians, include that:
patients under 18 years of age be certified by a practitioner who is a pediatrician or pediatric specialist to be implemented on a delayed basis as the number of registered practitioners meeting these qualifications increases.
that Physicians have the right to opt-out of the public registry maintained by the DOH on its website.
If you have any questions with respect to the above, please contact Kossovsky Law PLLC.