Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters . HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Department of Health would be empowered to impose new limits on doctors who want to practice in the state’s medical marijuana program under legislation prompted by a Spotlight PA investigation.
Earlier this month, a group of Republican lawmakers in the state House of Representatives introduced a bill that would give regulators the power to impose a range of conditions on individual physicians who want to certify medical marijuana patients. In Pennsylvania, patients need a doctor’s approval to obtain a medical marijuana card and buy cannabis from dispensaries. Under the bill, the department could place a physician on a term of probation and limit the number of patient certifications that the physician may issue during a specific time period as determined by the department.
The Department of Health could also impose reporting requirements and require the physician to be supervised by another doctor. The action follows a Spotlight PA investigation, published in August , that found the health department has rarely blocked practitioners from joining the state’s medical marijuana program based on past discipline. That includes a doctor who received a federal prison sentence in the early 2000s after pleading guilty to ch.