Legislation that allows for the legal use of medical marijuana continues to spread across the country. As of November, the current tally of states that have adopted medical marijuana programs is up to 23, along with Washington, D.C.
And in Pennsylvania, medical marijuana legislation could be coming as soon as 2015.
According to a December 22 Main Line Media News article, the same bipartisan pair of Pennsylvania senators who pushed for medical marijuana legislation this year will re-introduce the bill in 2015. The bill had been approved with a 43-7 vote in the state Senate this September, but failed to pass through the state House of Representatives before the legislative session ended on November 30.
Despite the fact that the bill will essentially have to start at the beginning of the lawmaking process, its writers are confident it will be voted into law in 2015.
If approved, the bill will give Pennsylvania residents a natural, non-addictive way to treat chronic pain and ailments. Senators Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, and Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, the bill’s authors, said they especially hope legalizing medical marijuana within Pennsylvania will give much-needed relief and options for people suffering from epilepsy and other seizure-related conditions.
“Some children suffer hundreds of seizures a day, making normal childhood development impossible,” the two said in a joint statement. “Prescribed narcotic cocktails of highly addictive and dangerous drugs have little effect on these disorders.”
According to a survey from the Senate Appropriations Committee, some 250,000 Pennsylvanians would sign up for a medical marijuana card if it were legal in their home state. Medical marijuana has proven to be an effective treatment for ALS, post traumatic stress disorder, multiple sclerosis and a huge number of other health conditions.
Governor-elect Tom Wolf has spoken out on his support of a medical marijuana program in his state, and has even showed an openness to examining the possibility of recreational marijuana legalization as well, according to Main Line Media News.
But while full legalization is likely a far-off possibility, there’s no reason for Pennsylvanians to think they won’t legally be able to access this option for alleviating their health problems within the next year.
