By Christen Smith
Staff Reporter
Capitolwire
HARRISBURG (May 11) — The Senate amended a handful of changes into the proposed Medical Cannabis Act and are now prepared to pass the bill Tuesday, Senate Republican spokesperson Jenn Kocher said.
The five amendments passed on the chamber floor broaden the scope of Senate Bill 3 considerably, seemingly at odds with a faction of “concerned” House Republicans still sifting through the legislation’s regulatory language with a fine-tooth comb.
But for sponsoring lawmaker Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, the version of SB 3 now awaiting final passage in the Senate represents the “solid foundation” he and fellow co-sponsor Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, sought to establish — one that includes vaporization and an expanded list of diseases covering ailments from chronic pain to diabetes.
“Senator Folmer is very pleased with the SB 3 amendments as his goal was to balance the interests of medical cannabis advocates with those who continue to have concerns with medical cannabis,” said Fred Sembach, Folmer’s chief of staff. “He believes the amendments accomplish this goal.”
Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington, sponsored three amendments Monday: adding “chronic or intractable pain” to the list of qualifying diseases; expanding delivery methods to include vaporization for patients with PTSD, cancer and seizures only; and inserting language allowing certified nurse practitioners, in collaboration with a doctor, to recommend medical cannabis.
Folmer urged the Senate State Government Committee, of which he serves as majority chairman, to adopt an amendment last month that whittled the list of healthcare practitioners authorized to write medical cannabis recommendations down to doctors only.
The change was designed to ease House concerns over the definition of healthcare practitioner in the original bill.
“The certified registered nurse practitioner amendment was one Senator Bartolotta advocated to address rural medical issues,” Sembach said. “Senator Folmer congratulates Senator Bartolotta for her advocacy on behalf of her constituents and for those across the Commonwealth who have been looking for medical cannabis as an option for their illnesses and conditions.”
Bartolotta’s nurse practitioner amendment passed on a vote of 40-7. Her other two amendments — vaporization and the addition of chronic pain — passed on votes of 38-9 and 39-8, respectively.
The chamber also approved an amendment to add Crohn’s Disease to the list of qualifying diseases on a vote of 40-7. The amendment to add diabetes to that same list passed on a vote of 38-9.
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