The state Tuesday gave its approval to Pennsylvania Medical Solutions LLC to begin growing medical marijuana for processing at its Scranton site.
The company was one of 12 statewide awarded a grower/processor permit in June by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the only one in Lackawanna County. It will provide medical marijuana for sale at licensed dispensaries early next year.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced the addition of Pennsylvania Medical Solutions LLC and GTI Pennsylvania LLC in Montour County to the list of approved facilities, bringing the total number of operational grower/processors to six. In October, Standard Farms LLC in White Haven, the only licensed facility in Luzerne County, received the OK from the state to start operations.
“We expect more grower/processors to become operational in the coming days. The program is moving forward to deliver medication to patients with serious medical conditions in the next few months,” Wolf said in a statement.
The governor signed the state’s Medical Marijuana Program into law on April 17, 2016. It set up a process for patients with any of 17 serious medical conditions such as autism, cancer, epilepsy and HIV/AIDS to receive medical marijuana to be dispensed in the form of pills, topical ointment, liquid or oil. No dry leaf or plant forms will be available.
The Department of Health conducted several inspections before allowing production to begin at the grower/processors. The facilities have integrated the seed-to-sale tracking system required by the state and will be able to begin accepting seeds and clones to grow medical marijuana.
As the grower/processor and dispensary components get in gear to deliver the medical marijuana, other components of the state program are up and running.
“More than 9,300 patients have registered to participate in the program, and are in the process of visiting an approved practitioner to get their patient certification,” acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine said in a statement. “More than 200 physicians have been approved as practitioners, with nearly 300 more going through the process.”
