PA Schools to Research Medical Marijuana

Eight medical schools in Pennsylvania — including Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, Drexel University, Pennsylvania State University, Temple University and University of Pittsburgh — have been approved by Gov. Tom Wolf to begin research on the effects and potential of medical marijuana.

Pennsylvania is the first state to implement government-mandated research on cannabis. Florida and other states are considering designing their own similar programs.

Because marijuana is still considered a Schedule I controlled substance, the medical schools will not be able to conduct any research on the actual drug itself. Instead, the labs must instead rely on data provided by partner cannabis companies.

More developments are likely to occur in the coming months regarding the program, but the medical schools involved stated they are hopeful that this project could unveil many of the uncertainties currently facing the medical marijuana industry.