Pharmacy Perspectives - Winter/Spring 2018 - 6

Medical Cannabis:
Timothy Wang, security; Briana Nocera, patient access representative; Amanda Labbe, PharmD; Juli Bradley, office manager; Bobby Lavoie, CPhT; Marlene Chasse, CPhT; Slomski; and Geri Ann Bradley, RPh.

Peter Casolino

Pharmacists Tread Carefully Into
the World of Medical Cannabis
B Y R AC HE L BAL ICK; REPRIN TED F ROM JANUARY 2 0 1 8 ISSUE OF PH ARMACY TODAY WIT H
P E RM ISSION OF THE AM ERICAN PHARMACIST S ASSOCIAT ION

he Healing Corner, a medical cannabis dispensary located in Bristol, CT, could pass for
a spa. A potted sedge and weeping fig tree stand between padded chairs and loveseats.
The walls are painted a cool taupe, and a blue tabletop fountain softly burbles in the
reception area. There's even a smiling Buddha statue in the consultation room, where
David Slomski, PharmD, or one of the other three Healing Corner pharmacists reviews a
menu of the dispensary's offerings to select a product that will best suit a patient's disease
state and treatment goals. But make no mistake-the Healing Corner is devoted to the
care of patients who have tried and failed to find relief through traditional medications.
When Connecticut finally allowed medical cannabis dispensaries to begin seeing patients in 2014,
Slomski didn't waste any time jumping on board. Fresh out of University of St. Joseph School of
Pharmacy in Hartford, Slomski-now dispensary manager at the Healing Corner-was eager to seize
the opportunity to be an entrepreneur and pioneer in the industry. "My license number is three," he said.
Slomski is also chair of the Connecticut Pharmacists Association (CPA) Medical Marijuana Dispensary
Academy, a continuing education creator and presenter, and winner of CPA and Pharmacists Mutual's
2015 Distinguished Young Pharmacist Award.
Connecticut was certainly the right place to do it. It was the first state in the nation to mandate that
a registered pharmacist be onsite at all medical cannabis dispensaries.

CU Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

PHARMACISTS GET IN THE GAME
The law permitting the use of
medical cannabis in Connecticut
was enacted in 2012, and it took two
years to work out issues such as how to
license dispensaries and pharmacists,
where medical cannabis providers
would obtain their products, and
what conditions would qualify patients for a card.
Four more states-Arkansas,
Minnesota , Ne w York , and
Pennsylvania-went on to mandate
pharmacist involvement in the provision of medical cannabis. Though
pharmacists are a common thread, the
laws vary widely in what qualifying
conditions make patients eligible for
the program, how pharmacists and
prescribers become authorized to prescribe or dispense, whether pharmacists
or physicians must be onsite at dispensaries or be available as a consultant
only, and more.
Here's how it works in Connecticut.
To get a medical marijuana card,
a patient must be diagnosed by a
Connecticut physician or advanced
practice registered nurse as having one
or more qualifying conditions. The
only stipulation is that the provider
has an active controlled substance
registration in good standing and has
access to the Connecticut Prescription
Monitoring Program.
"They don't need any special certification; they just need to register
with the State of Connecticut to certify patients," Slomski said. To work
with patients using medical cannabis,
however, pharmacists are encouraged
to educate themselves by participating
in continuing education and keeping
up to date on any developments in the
medical cannabis field. A dispensary
pharmacist must be onsite at the dispensary facility during business hours.

THE LEGAL OUTLOOK IS HAZY
Joseph Friedman, RPh, MBA, is
chief operations officer at PDI Medical,
a dispensary located in Buffalo Grove,
IL. Illinois does not mandate that pharmacists be involved with the dispensing

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pharmacy Perspectives - Winter/Spring 2018