Like nearly every other state with a medical cannabis law in effect, Pennsylvania limits the medical practitioners with state approval to recommend medical cannabis to patients. But a new rule awaiting final approval would change things dramatically. It would add nurse practitioners and podiatrists to the list of approved clinicians.
Pennsylvania is not alone in its attempt to increase access to medical cannabis by giving more providers authority to recommend cannabis therapies. Some 20 states have already enacted similar rules. As the thinking goes, increasing the number of eligible medical providers subsequently increases access to patients. More providers ostensibly brings down the price of a visit as well.
The Current Climate in Pennsylvania
As things currently stand, Pennsylvania boasts more than 700k medical cannabis patients. Current regulations limit recommendations to license medical doctors and doctors of osteopathic medicine. They are the only two types of medical professionals able to certify patience is eligible for the state’s medical cannabis program.
Patients wishing to use medical cannabis must visit with the medical provider before applying with the state. Ultimately, the medical provided determines patient eligibility based on medical condition, current health, and whether or not medical cannabis would be an appropriate treatment.
If the pending rule is finalized, the only thing that would change in Pennsylvania is the number of medical professionals with the authority to certify patients. Including nurse practitioners and podiatrists would add thousands of medical providers to the rolls.
Something Similar in Utah
Utah lawmakers did something similar a couple of years ago. They added what the state refers to as limited medical providers (LMPs) to their list of qualified medical providers capable of recommending medical cannabis.
Prior to the rule change, Salt Lake City’s Beehive Farmacy says that only qualified medical providers (QMPs) could make medical cannabis recommendations. A QMP is a medical provider who has completed continuing education, obtained certification, and paid the annual license fee. Note that a QMP can be any doctor, advanced practice nurse, or orthopedist with prescribing authority in the state.
Beehive Farmacy says that demand for medical cannabis cards quickly outpaced lawmaker expectations during the first couple of years of the state’s program. Not only that, but there also were not enough medical providers willing to become QMPs. Getting an appointment with a QMP was very difficult.
Utah’s solution was the LMP program. An LMP is also a doctor, advanced practice nurse, or orthopedist with prescribing authority. But the LMP has not completed continuing education or been officially certified by the state. The downside is that LMPs can only recommend cannabis to up to 15 patients at a time. A QMP can make more than 1,000 simultaneous recommendations.
Keeping Things Under Control
On the surface, regulations aimed at determining who can and cannot recommend medical cannabis seem foolish. Common sense seems to dictate that any medical professional capable of prescribing or recommending traditional prescription drugs should be able to recommend cannabis as well. But that is not how it works in most states. The states have enacted their rules about recommendations in order to keep things under control.
Their primary goal is to prevent card mills from popping up everywhere. They want medical cannabis to be used medically, not recreationally. Yet a proliferation of card mills would make that challenging. So to prevent card mills, they restrict who can make medical cannabis recommendations.
It is quite likely that the final rule awaiting approval in Pennsylvania will eventually be made law. When it is, Pennsylvania patients will have more choices in terms of medical providers. Hopefully, access will increase and prices will truly come down.
