Pennsylvania Department of Health Grants Medical Marijuana Permits for Dispensaries

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 29, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Department of Health today granted 27 dispensary permits for medical marijuana dispensaries. The permittees will now have six months in which to become operational, before they can begin dispensing medical marijuana.

"This has been a highly competitive process and the department received hundreds of quality applications," said John Collins, Director of the Office of Medical Marijuana. "Once this program is fully operational, patients with serious medical conditions will have locations throughout the commonwealth where they can purchase medication to help in their treatment. We remain on track to provide medication to patients in 2018."

There will be a total of 52 dispensaries located throughout the commonwealth.  Each of the 27 dispensary permit holders is eligible to open a total of three locations. Some dispensary permit holders have opted not to open all eligible locations at this time. A complete list of locations is available on the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov.

The 27 permits were issued to:
Region 1: Southeast

Region 2: Northeast

Region 3: Southcentral

Region 4: Northcentral

Region 5: Southwest

Region 6: Northwest

Individual dispensary locations, score cards for all dispensary applicants and redacted applications for the 27 dispensary permit holders are available on the Medical Marijuana section on the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov . Redacted applications for all grower/processors are also available on the website.

The Office of Medical Marijuana received 457 applications: 177 for growers and processors; and 280 for dispensaries.

The Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf on April 17, 2016. Since that time, the department has:

• Completed the Safe Harbor temporary guidelines and Safe Harbor Letter application process, as well as approved 273 applications;
• Completed temporary regulations for growers/processors, dispensaries, laboratories and physicians which have been published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
• Granted 12 grower/processor permits and 27 dispensary permits;
• Developed the Medical Marijuana Physician Workgroup;
• Selected the woman-owned company MJ Freeway to implement seed-to-sale electronic tracking system.

The Medical Marijuana Act became effective on May 17, 2016, and is expected to be fully implemented in early 2018. The Medical Marijuana Program will offer medical marijuana to patients who are residents of Pennsylvania and under a practitioner's care for the treatment of a serious medical condition as defined by Act 16. 

Questions about the Medical Marijuana Program can be emailed to RA-DHMedMarijuana@pa.gov. Information is also available on the Department of Health website at www.health.pa.gov or by following us on Facebook and Twitter.

MEDIA CONTACT: April Hutcheson, 717-787-1783 or ra-dhpressoffice@pa.gov

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SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Health