Pennsylvania launches the country's 24th medical marijuana program

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania has become the 24th state to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill into law Sunday afternoon surrounded by a jubilant crowd of supporters at the Capitol.

Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, the bill’s co-sponsor, said “Marijuana is medicine, and it’s coming to Pennsylvania.”

The bill’s drafters say it could take two years to write regulations and get retailers opened. But a provision allows parents to legally administer medical marijuana to their children in the meantime when the bill takes effect in a month.

The bill sets standards for tracking plants, certifying physicians and licensing growers, dispensaries and physicians. Patients could take marijuana in pill, oil, vapor, ointment or liquid form, but would not be able to legally obtain marijuana to smoke or grow.