Sidebar Summer 2018 - 24

SIDEBAR FEATURE

MONTGOMERYBAR.ORG

MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS HERE -
AND SOCIETY HASN'T BROKEN DOWN!
By William G. Roark, Esq.

A

pproximately four years ago, our firm began the process
of opening a Medical Marijuana Practice Group. It was
an exciting time. Now, the medical marijuana industry
is up and running in Pennsylvania. Some of you may even pass
medical dispensaries on your way to work. And for those of you
who don't - keep an eye out because the number of permitted
entities operating in Pennsylvania is going to double over the next
year.

a "doctor" under these circumstances to look like. Below is an
accurate accounting the consultation:

With businesses opening, we are now in a position to draw
real (and often stark) comparisons to states which sought to
regulate medical marijuana before Pennsylvania. By way of
example, during a 2017 trip out West, I had the following
experience:

Dr. Gandalf: Will this be your first patient ID card?

The "patient intake form" was only one page. It wasn't presented
to me in the comforts of a doctor's office by a professionally
accredited nurse. Instead, while I was meandering the aisles
of a recent trade show in this unnamed state, a polite young
woman named Roxie asked me if I wanted information about
patients' rights. I said yes and - viola - I was holding a one-page
questionnaire listing about thirty different medical conditions
in a checklist format. I was asked to check which conditions I
had. Let's see, low back pain? Check. Anxiety? Sure, we all get
a little nervous.... And down the list I went. I signed where
appropriate, submitted my form and waited.
The real fun started when I was invited behind a curtained off
area of their booth. There waiting for me was an iPad. I was
told that "the doctor" would be video-calling in a few moments
and that I should wait. Shortly thereafter I saw the smiling face
of a man who looked to be a cross between Jerry Garcia and
Gandalf the Grey - in other words, he was exactly what I expected

24 SIDEBAR

Dr. Gandalf: Mr. Roark, did you watch the instructional video?
Me: <>
Uh, no doctor, I didn't.
Dr. Gandalf: How did you hurt your low back?
Me: Exercising in college
Me: Yes doctor, it will be.
Dr. Gandalf: Very well. Go live your life.
That is not a summary. Those three questions and his parting
wisdom to "go live your life" constituted the entire medical
consultation. That was it. Minutes later I was holding a sealed
and legally valid medical marijuana patient ID card. I hadn't
even been in the state for 24 hours - and I was surely never going
to see Dr. Gandalf or Roxie again. And what was the deal with
the instructional video?
Encounters like that are exactly what Pennsylvania's medical
marijuana program is designed to avoid. Here, doctors not
only have to obtain special training through the Department
of Health ("DOH") concerning the therapeutic benefits of
medical marijuana, but they must also certify that the patient is
and will remain under the doctor's continuing care. Moreover,
Pennsylvania patients won't obtain their patient ID cards directly
from doctors. Instead, doctors registered with the DOH may
only recommend the use of medical marijuana to their patients so
long as the patient has one of the enumerated medical conditions.
With that recommendation, the patient must then apply directly
to the DOH for a patient ID card. Additionally, Pennsylvania
http://montgomerybar.org
Sidebar Summer 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sidebar Summer 2018
