9/6/2023 PA Medical Marijuana Advisory Board Meeting

Hi all, it's Dr Jen Minkovich here with some highlights from last week’s meeting of the PA Medical Marijuana Advisory Board.

1.The DOH Office of Medical Marijuana will begin publishing aggregate data (data sets) of program metrics on the medicalmarijuana.pa.gov website ("Program Data"). Currently all that is available there are the program metric slides from previous board meetings, but more info will be available going forward.

2. The Dept of Revenue informed the Office of Medical Marijuana and MMJ organizations that as of Sept 1, 2023 all medical marijuana accessories (devices/paraphernalia) are subject to Sales and Use tax. This change will impact the industry and patients. Permit-ees were coached on the change and the point of sale logistics. Please note: cannabis/cannabis products (flower, concentrates, RSO, etc. etc.) are not subject to retail sales tax / i.e. patients do not pay sales tax on cannabis and this will not change.)

3. Current program metrics - see program slides

4. Discussion on edibles- patient advocate Diana Briggs led yet another discussion on the topic of adding prepared food edibles to the list of approved consumption method in our program. She also raised with the board the fact that troches, which are pretty darn close to being gummies or candies, have already been approved for sale by the DOH, and are being sold safely in child-proof containers and packaging that is not attractive to children. (Troches are lozenge or gummy-type tablets meant to be held in the mouth and absorbed sublingually or buccally.) Given that, adding edibles would not be a far stretch from where we already are.

Despite her unwavering persistence and efforts to be the voice of logic and reason on this topic, her proposal to make a formal recommendation to the legislature to add prepared food edibles to our program was voted down: 6 abstentions, 3 No votes, 2 Yes votes. Notably, one board member opined that "from the perspective of law enforcement, we are concerned that if we approve edibles, they will get into the wrong hands...they will get into children's hands."

5. The vote on the Research Subcommittee's proposal to allow processors to remediate flower with solvent-based methods (research presentation was given on this topic by a rep from Organic Remedies at a previous meeting) was postponed to the next board meeting. Since some of the board members had lingering questions, the plan is to set up a meeting with Organic Remedies to get further clarification prior to that next vote.

6. A motion was made by the Regulatory Review Subcommittee to allow doctors of podiatric medicine (podiatrists) to be eligible to be approved practitioners in our program, but they would be strictly limited to certifying patients for the qualifying condition of severe chronic pain. (They would not be able to certify patients for any other reason since their medical scope of practice is very limited.) The motion passed with 9 Yes votes, 1 No vote and 1 abstention. A formal report/recommendation will be submitted to the required legislators, and the Secretary of Health will then have one year to approve it.

Of note, things that were not mentioned at this meeting: any update on Phase 3 of the medical marijuana patient assistance program. (Very disappointing.)

The next Medical Marijuana Advisory Board meeting is scheduled for Nov 15, 2023.

Thank you for reading,

Dr Jen Minkovich