Pennsylvania Considers Expanding Who Can Officially Recommend Medical Cannabis

Pennsylvania could allow nurse practitioners and podiatrists to recommend patients to the state’s medical cannabis program under proposals awaiting approval from the state’s health secretary, according to a Spotlight PA report. The policy changes were recommended by the state’s Medical Marijuana Advisory Board and would add thousands more health professionals who are capable of making medical cannabis recommendations.

Nurse practitioners were originally unable to make recommendations for the Pennsylvania medical cannabis program but lawmakers gave regulators the ability to make such expansions down the line. Under the latest proposals, podiatrists would also be included — but only for severe, chronic, or intractable pain specific to the feet, the report said.

The proposals would still require nurse practitioners and podiatrists to apply and complete a four-hour training course before they could recommend patients for the program.

“What is Pennsylvania scared of? Is it the cannabis? Or is it the nurse practitioner? If you’re scared of either one of those, then you don’t understand either one of those.” — Nurse practitioner Judy Jenks, via Spotlight PA

The Pennsylvania Board of Nursing said last November that it supported letting nurse practitioners and podiatrists make medical cannabis recommendations, the report said.

The Bureau of Medical Marijuana’s director Laura Mentch previously noted that telehealth appointments have expanded the options for those seeking a practioner’s recommendation.