House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, told the
Pennsylvania Press Club on Monday that he still has questions about
medical marijuana. Multiple bills are currently in the works to legalize
it in Pennsylvania.
(Photo by Sam Janesch)
By
on July 27, 2015 at 4:40 PM, updated July 27, 2015 at 4:41 PM
on July 27, 2015 at 4:40 PM, updated July 27, 2015 at 4:41 PM
Pending legislation would allow for a certain number of licensed medical cannabis growers and distributors, but Turzai, R-Allegheny, voiced some lingering questions.
Rep. Mike Turzai speaks with at the Pennsylvania Press Club on Monday. Multiple forms of medical marijuana legislation are in the mix or coming soon, but the final passage of a bill may be unlikely before the fall.
After a bill from Sens. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon County, and Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery County, overwhelmingly passed the Senate earlier this year, it was stalled in a House committee and has not been approved to go to a floor vote. Turzai said Monday the bill was "too far-reaching" because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved marijuana for medical use.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers were then tasked at the beginning of July to work on a compromise bill aimed to pass the House.
They have been mainly considering the Senate bill, a bill introduced by Rep. Ron Marsico, R-Lower Paxton Twp., at the end of June and soon-to-be-introduced legislation from Rep. Jim Cox, R-Sinking Spring, that "closely mirrors" the Senate bill.
Cox, a member of the task force, said the group had two productive meetings last week in which they were getting down to "the guts of what a bill would look like."
His own bill -- for which he is finalizing language -- will have about 60 co-sponsors and appease some of the concerns in the previous bills. One of those concerns was the creation of a new independent board to oversee future changes, like the list of conditions approved for medical marijuana treatment.
Instead of a new board, Cox said there "seems to be a consensus" to utilize the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council, an existing independent state agency, for data collection, retention and research.
"There's not an appetite for creating a whole new freestanding board that has ongoing expenses," Cox said.
The agency, known as PHC4, would take into account privacy concerns by collecting data that is symptom- and treatment-specific, rather than patient-specific. Doctors could use the database to further treat conditions with medical cannabis, Cox said.
Requests for comment from PHC4 were not immediately returned.
Establishing medical cannabis facilities and dispensaries is expected to take anywhere from 9 to 24 months. Cox said it is also his goal to establish a system where Pennsylvanians would not be penalized for having medical marijuana once a bill is passed.
"In that interim time period, I'd love to say
to Pennsylvanians if you apply for and receive your medical cannabis
card through your physician and so forth, you will have the legal
coverage," Cox said.
"Every day this bill doesn't pass... [is] a day of needless suffering for people who need it." Sen. Daylin Leach
Leach said the work of the task force is encouraging and he hopes the Legislature will move forward quickly."Every day this bill doesn't pass and signed into law is frustrating only because it's a day of needless suffering for people who need it in Pennsylvania," Leach said.
House Majority Leader Dave Reed, R-Indiana, has shown support for medical marijuana, but Turzai said the Legislature must hear from medical experts, parents and community members about their concerns before legislation is passed. Gov. Tom Wolf said he will sign a medical marijuana bill once it reaches his desk.
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