Terminally Ill Patients Would Be Able To Use Medical Marijuana In Pennsylvania Hospitals Under New Bipartisan Bill

Bipartisan Pennsylvania senators have introduced a bill that would allow
terminally ill patients to use of medical marijuana in hospitals.

Similar to a law previously enacted in California, the Pennsylvania
legislation from Sen. John Kane (D) and 17 bipartisan cosponsors aims to ensure
that cannabis patients with severe illnesses such as cancer retain access
to regulated products as an alternative treatment option.

“Hospitals are incredible places where patients receive top notch care,”
Kane wrote in a cosponsorship memo in August. “They need guidance and legal
protections to provide terminally ill patients with options to manage pain,
while providing settings that support family and friends who are saying
goodbye to a loved one.”

The policy that’s being proposed in the bill filed on Friday is known as
“Ryan’s law,” a reference to Ryan Bartell, a cancer patient who inspired
the legislation.

“During his treatments in California the hospital provided him with opioid
medications that caused him to be sedated and unable to interact with
family and friends,” Kane said. “Ryan and his family wanted to ensure that
his remaining days could be filled with visits from his loved ones. So,
Ryan moved to a hospital in the State of Washington where he used medical
marijuana to manage his pain effectively and allow him to stay awake and
alert to spend time with family and friends during hospital visits.”

“Ryan’s law would allow terminally ill patients to use non-smoking forms of
medical marijuana in Pennsylvania hospitals,” he said. “Right now, the use
of medical marijuana in hospitals is a gray area due to marijuana being a
Scheduled I Narcotic, while also being legal for medicinal purposes in
Pennsylvania.”

The four-page bill would amend the state’s existing medical cannabis law to
make it so terminally ill patients can use non-smokeable marijuana products
at hospitals, create storage requirements for the medicine and require
health facilities to develop guidelines about the regulated use of cannabis
for qualifying patients.

It also stipulates that a “health care facility is not required to provide
a patient with a recommendation to use medical marijuana in compliance with
this act or include medical marijuana in a patient’s discharge plan.”

Additionally, the measure says that, if the federal government initiates
enforcement actions against a hospital regarding the cannabis policy or
issues rules expressly prohibiting the medical marijuana allowance, the
health facility is empowered to suspend the practice.

However, the proposed law “shall not be construed to permit a health care
facility to prohibit patient use of medical marijuana due solely to the
fact that cannabis is a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act
or other Federal constraints on the use of medical marijuana that were in
existence prior to the effective date of this paragraph,” it says.

“Please join me in cosponsoring this important bill that gives terminally
ill patients a better way to receive compassionate care and to support the
patient, their families and friends during extremely difficult times,” Kane
said.

Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to push for adult-use marijuana legalization
in the commonwealth.


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A top aide to Pennsylvania’s governor said last month, however, that lawmakers
should stop introducing new competing legalization bills and instead focus
on building consensus on the issue—while emphasizing that any measure that
advances needs to contain equity provisions if the governor is going to
sign it into law.

Sen. Dan Laughlin (R), who serves as chair of the Senate Law and Justice
Committee, said in August that the House “needs to pass the language in my
bill and send it to my committee” after which point he “can negotiate with
the Senate and the governor.”

The Democratic-controlled House, however, has already advanced a
legalization proposal this session that called for a state-run sales model.
That measure was quickly quashed in Laughlin’s Senate committee, however,
with the GOP lawmaker and others insisting that a more traditional approach
of licensing privates businesses would have a better shot.

Laughlin separately said recently that supporters are “picking up votes” to
enact the reform this session.

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), for his part, said last month that he won’t
“concede” on his plan to legalize adult-use cannabis through the budget.

Meanwhile, the leading Republican candidate in the race to become the next
governor of Pennsylvania dodged a question about her stance on legalizing
marijuana—saying she doesn’t have a “policy position” on the issue and
arguing that the sitting governor’s proposal for reform “way, way
overstated” potential revenue.

The candidate, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R), pointed to
neighboring Ohio, which launched its own adult-use cannabis market this
year, saying “they generated about $115 million in revenue.” And while the
populations of both states are relatively comparable, Shapiro’s budget projected
$536.5 million in cannabis revenue in the first fiscal year of
implementation.

She did, however, say that if Pennsylvania moves forward on enacting the
reform, she’ll “make sure that it’s banked appropriately.”

Meanwhile, a Pennsylvania Democratic senator recently said that federal
marijuana rescheduling—which President Donald Trump said he’d be making a
decision on imminently—would be “very influential” in advancing
legalization in his state, giving “political cover” to GOP members on the
fence about reform.

Sen. Sharif Street (D) discussed the status of cannabis legalization
efforts in the Keystone State, including a bipartisan proposal to end
prohibition that he filed alongside Laughlin in July.

The legalization bill with a state-run sales model that passed the House
isn’t necessarily dead for the session as a vehicle to advance reform,
however. And Democrats in the chamber recently called on voters to pressure
state senators to sign off on the cannabis measure, arguing that it would
benefit health and safety and bring in billions of dollars in revenue for
the commonwealth.

Polls have shown bipartisan support for legalization among voters, but the
reform has consistently stalled in the legislature, due largely to GOP
opposition. But not all Republican members are against the policy
change—and one recently said she felt her party should seize the
“opportunity to snatch” the issue from Democrats.

In addition to pushback from Senate Majority Leader Pittman, another
Republican, Sen. Scott Martin, who chairs the influential Appropriations
Committee, said earlier this month that he didn’t plan to move on any
adult-use legalization bills.

Separately, just days after Laughlin and Street filed their measure, Reps.
Emily Kinkead (D) and Abby Major (R)—alongside eight other cosponsors—filed
legislation in the House to enact the reform. The pair have previously championed
other proposals to end prohibition.

Laughlin and 16 other lawmakers also recently filed a separate bill to
create a new regulatory body in the state that would begin overseeing
medical cannabis while preparing to eventually handle the adult-use market as
well.

Separately, a recent poll found that Pennsylvania voters say they favor a
model where cannabis is sold by licensed private businesses rather than
through a system of state-run stores.

Meanwhile, a Democratic lawmaker recently filed a bill that seeks to require
employers to cover the costs of medical cannabis for qualifying patients
receiving workers’ compensation.

*Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.*

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