Butler County is one of the areas that will be granted a medical marijuana dispensary permit.
“In the first phase of the program, there will be up to 12 permits issued for growers and processors across Pennsylvania’s six medical marijuana regions,” Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Karen Murphy said during an update on the program Wednesday. “There will be up to 27 permits issued for dispensaries.”
Murphy is taking the lead in rolling out the medical marijuana program, which was signed into law by Governor Wolf in April.
Permit applications for dispensaries and for grower-processors will be available online starting Jan. 17. The month-long application period will begin Feb. 20. Each dispensary can operate three locations.
Murphy says the state’s Office of Medical Marijuana currently has eight employees.
A physician work group met in Harrisburg last month to offer recommendations into development of different aspects of the program.
“Some of their recommendations include that we develop specific training on dosing requirements for physicians in dispensaries, that we develop a robust quality monitoring program and that we have different approaches for physicians in rural and urban areas,” Murphy said.
Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program is expected to be fully available for residents under a physician’s care for treatment of a serious medical condition sometime in 2018.
