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The head of Pennsylvania’s health department has declined to approve a proposal to allow nurse practitioners to recommend the medicinal use of cannabis under the state’s medical cannabis program, saying the plan does not comply with state law. Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Debra L. Bogen also blocked a plan to allow podiatrists to recommend medical cannabis, again citing inconsistencies between the proposal and the state’s medical cannabis statute.
Bogen was responding to two separate recommendations from the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Advisory Board’s Regulatory Subcommittee. One recommendation would have allowed certified nurse practitioners to authorize patients to use medical cannabis, while the other would have allowed licensed podiatrists to do the same.
Under the first proposal, certified registered nurse practitioners (CRNPs) would have been allowed to recommend the use of medical conditions to their patients to treat any serious medical condition allowed by the state medical cannabis program. In a notice published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin last week, Bogen’s office wrote that she “does not disagree with the reasoning underlying the Board’s recommendation” to permit nurse practitioners to recommend cannabis for their patients. The notice explained, however, that Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis law only allows such recommendations to be made by licensed physicians.
“The Secretary is guided by the narrow definition assigned to ‘practitioner’ in section 103 of the act,” the filing says, referring to Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis statute. “The act specifically limits practitioners to physicians under section 103. Without legislative changes to allow for expansion of that definition, as well as modifications to the act providing for the approval, discipline and oversight of new categories of certifying practitioners, the Secretary is constrained from effectuating the Board’s recommendation to include CRNPs as eligible to register to issue certifications for medical marijuana to patients with serious medical conditions.”
Change Supported By State Nursing Board
The proposal to add nurse practitioners to the lineup of medical professionals allowed to authorize the use of medical cannabis was supported by the Pennsylvania Board of Nursing. Under state law, CRNPs can diagnose medical conditions, recommend treatment plans, and prescribe medications. Judy Jenks, a nurse practitioner who runs a medical cannabis clinic in Virginia, said her colleagues in Pennsylvania should also be allowed to recommend medical cannabis to their patients.
“What is Pennsylvania scared of?” Jenks said in an interview with Spotlight PA last month. “Is it the cannabis? Or is it the nurse practitioner?”
“If you’re scared of either one of those,” she continued, “then you don’t understand either one of those.”
A separate proposal from the medical marijuana advisory board would have allowed licensed podiatrists to recommend the medicinal use of cannabis to treat foot-related pain. Bogen declined to approve the recommendation in a separate filing in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, again writing that making the change would not comply with state law.
“The recommendation would only allow for Doctors of Podiatric Medicine to certify for one specific serious medical condition,” Bogen’s office wrote, according to a report from online cannabis news outlet Marijuana Moment. “This limitation does not appear to be consistent with the act, which does not reflect such a restriction for practitioners.”
Bogen “factored this inconsistency into her decision not to effectuate the Board’s recommendation,” the filing noted.
While denying the proposals, Bogen noted that the state legislature has the authority to make the suggested changes. In the filings denying the two recommendations to add podiatrists and nurse practitioners to the state’s medical cannabis program, the health secretary said that she “recognizes that there may be changes to the law or other considerations that may warrant reconsideration of this issue in the future.”
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The information in this article and any included images or charts are for educational purposes only. This information is neither a substitute for, nor does it replace, professional legal advice or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about laws, regulations, or your health, you should always consult with an attorney, physician or other licensed professional.
