In April 2016, Pennsylvania began regulating medical marijuana with the passage of Act 16: Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act. In a recent Lawline CLE course “Medical Marijuana in the Keystone State“, attorney William Roark, one of the first Pennsylvania attorneys to tackle the nuances of Pennsylvania’s new law, discussed the law’s implementation. Mr. Roark covered everything from the current status of regulations and applications, to the day-to- day issues impacting Pennsylvania lawyers practicing in the field.

In the clip below, Mr. Roark describes a nuanced issue that will affect any Pennsylvania applicants interested in growing or processing medical marijuana. Specifically, he reveals an interesting quandary:

Every applicant must provide a detailed plan for how they will grow and process the marijuana. The caveat? Nobody in Pennsylvania should know how to grow marijuana.

So how does one provide such a detailed plan? Mr. Roark describes the few ways in which this can be done. You can watch the following clip or read on below.

Mr. Roark explains that the answer is to “bring people that have an excuse for knowing how to legally grow marijuana.” There are a two ways a grower / processor can do so:

1. Hire a consultant. These consultants provide applicants with the know-how, intellectual property, and detail plan Pennsylvania applicants need to grow and process marijuana. Just be wary and do your due diligence – as with all business, there are great and not so great consultants out there.

2. Bring on someone already in the industry. If the applicant is lucky enough to know someone already in the industry, they can bring that individual on as part of their team – whether as a manager or part of an advisory board. That individual would then be able to competently and credibly explain how the applicant will grow and process marijuana.

To learn more about the issues surrounding Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act, check out Mr. Roark’s full CLE program here.