Pennsylvania State Senator Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) put out a press release on Monday April 8, stating his intention to bring medical cannabis edibles into the Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program. Senator Laughlin was quoted as saying that “Pennsylvania’s patients should be able to buy edible medical cannabis that is safe, uniform and securely packaged and labeled, just as they do in 25 other states that have legalized medical cannabis. For many patients, their medical conditions require gradual relief over an extended period of time. Consuming medical cannabis in edible form is among the best ways to achieve the time-release effect that these patients need.”
The legislation will be written to ensure that edibles are tested for consistency and potency and designed not to appeal to children, which is often a main concern of opponents of edible forms of marijuana. Patients are currently allowed to make their own edibles with medical marijuana products but as Laughlin provides “incorporating medical cannabis into food is complex and patients may not evenly disperse the marijuana’s active ingredients throughout their food which impairs their ability to get uniform relief from their symptoms.” He states that allowing edibles to be produced by licensed PA grower/processors would lead to products that are “uniform in their THC distribution and potency, as well as clearly labeled and stored in child-proof containers.”
Laughlin further provided that the intention of this legislation is to “offer an easy and appropriate way to get relief from their medical conditions, and that’s always been the goal of medical cannabis: providing relief to patients.” Senator Laughlin has also supported legislation that would legalize the recreational use of cannabis in Pennsylvania, an effort which has currently stalled in the Senate.