Pennsylvania lawmakers unveil Marijuana bills on 4/20
HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania lawmakers unveiled multiple bills on April 20 relating to cannabis.
The four bills focused on de-regulation, education requirements, and protections for medical cannabis registrants and stakeholders.
Pennsylvania bill would allow farmers to grow medical cannabis
A bill introduced by seven lawmakers would reintroduce a bill “urging the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board to encourage and facilitate PASSHE universities in obtaining United States Drug Enforcement Agency registrations to authorize the possession of cannabis for clinical registrants.”
Lawmakers say the bill would allow clinical registrants to continue hands-on work with cannabis plants to aid research universities and state physicians.
The second bill introduced by 10 lawmakers “urges the federal government to remove cannabis from Schedule I” classification.
“As legislators, we must raise up the voices of our constituents when they tell us something is amiss,” said a memo released on Thursday. “By showing our support for de-scheduling cannabis, Pennsylvania can be part of the push to equitably legalize this historically villainized plant.”
A third bill introduced by Rep. Christopher Rabb (D-Philadelphia) would “require that medical professionals who authorize use of medical cannabis undertake continuing education so they can provide the highest quality of care for medical cannabis patients.”
The bill would require four hours of annual continuing education courses for medical practitioners certified to authorize the use of medical cannabis. The bill would also lead to the development of courses and subsidize costs/fees for continued education for practitioners in underserved, unserved, or marginalized communities.
A fourth bill introduced by Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia) would allow school nurses to administer medical marijuana to students who are eligible to receive it from a parent or guardian for medical purposes.
Thursday marks marijuana culture’s high holiday, 4/20, when cannabis fans gather in clouds of smoke at music festivals, celebrate with all-you-can-deals on chicken wings and other munchies, and take advantage of pot-shop discounts in legal weed states.
Some 38 states — most recently Kentucky, last month — have OK’d the drug’s medicinal use.
