Harrisburg — A medical marijuana dispensary in Lancaster County was approved to begin operations by the state Department of Health on Friday, Governor Tom Wolf announced.
A Chester County dispensary was also approved, bringing the total number of medical marijuana dispensaries statewide to eight.
Cure Pennsylvania in Lancaster and Cure Pennsylvania in Phoenixville passed all Department of Health inspections and were approved to begin operations. Patients will be able to purchase medical marijuana at these locations once it is available.
The Lancaster dispensary plans to open March 9.
“Each week, we are making great strides in expanding our network where patients will be able to get medical marijuana,” Governor Wolf said in a press release. “The approval of two more dispensaries is another positive step forward. Work continues to move patients one step closer to having medical marijuana as a tool to help with their medical condition.”
More than 16,600 patients have registered to participate in the medical marijuana program, with more than 3,800 certified by a physician.
“Our team is diligently working to inspect dispensaries,” Acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine said. “Each of these inspections ensures that all standards set out by the regulations and their facilities are met, and the sites are safe and secure. The program continues to work to provide operational locations to help get medical marijuana to patients.”
In order to become operational, the grower/processors and dispensaries have each undergone several inspections from the Department of Health. Each of the grower/processors are fully integrated with the seed-to-sale tracking system and are now able to begin accepting seeds and clones to grow medical marijuana.
Physicians continue to register to participate in the program. To date, 701 have registered and of those, 355 have competed the training to become certified practitioners.
