Costa adds that once it passes, there is room to tweak along the way within the advisory board and implementation process.
But Goldstein of Philly NORML, also the marijuana columnist for Philly.com, questions the make-up of the advisory board and whether the state will have the patient’s best interests at heart. He says the advisory board will consist mostly of police officers.
“You want to see doctors and patients and families and advocates on the board,” says Goldstein. “Do you want to go to your police chief when you need medication?”
Costa says that while police officers will sit on the advisory committee, medical professionals will also be included.
Goldstein worries that Pennsylvania is making many of the same mistakes that New York and New Jersey made in passing their medical-marijuana laws. He says overly restrictive legislation has led, in New Jersey, to high costs: a $200 biennial registration fee for patients, and $500 per ounce for cannabinoid oil. And in New York, registration has been low: about 1,400 patients in a state of 20 million. He says that problems like these can lead patients who qualify to utilize the black market to obtain cannabis, which leaves them vulnerable to prosecution.
Goldstein also says Pennsylvania still averages 18,000 marijuana-possession arrests per year, and to “say that all of [the arrested] are looking to get high recreationally is a falsity.” In Bucks County, Michael and Erika Zorn were charged with possessing and manufacturing marijuana in March 2015. Erika Zorn, a mother of two and then a manager of an eyeglass store, suffers from lupus, an autoimmune disorder, and grew and smoked marijuana to treat her disease. The two eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and received a year of probation.
Republican Sen. Mike Folmer, of Lebanon County, S.B. 3’s primary sponsor, says that he wants to see more protections for patients who will qualify for medical marijuana, but that on his side it is too late to add such language into the bill. “I don’t want to do anything that will blow up the eventuality of passing the bill.”
He has derided the long process of amending the bill over and over, saying, “We are still trying to treat cannabis as one of the most dangerous medicines in terms of regulations.”
Folmer says that if he can support this bill, given his party and his background, then the more conservative members of the House should get behind it too.
“I am a Bible-believing adult Presbyterian. This is not about being a stoner,” says Folmer. “It’s about using a plant to help people’s quality of life and adding another arrow in a patient’s quiver.”
Goldstein emphasizes that the time the bill spends on the House floor is important, too. He says since the two-year legislative period ends in December, if the bill does not get finalized before end of the year, the entire process will have to start over again.
