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The move by the U.S. Justice Department to possibly get tougher on marijuana sales coincided with Pennsylvania granting approval Thursday to the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary to begin serving patients.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, meanwhile, pledged to continue to protect the program he signed into law in 2016, no matter what may happen at the federal level.

“Despite backwards moves by the Trump administration, I will continue to protect cancer patients, kids with epilepsy, veterans with PTSD and all Pennsylvanians seeking relief from legal medical marijuana,” Wolf said in a prepared statement. “In Pennsylvania, we legalized medical marijuana in an overwhelming and bipartisan fashion, and we are months away from getting this medicine to patients that need it.”

Wolf said his administration is evaluating what impact Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ directive could have on the state’s program that’s been taking incremental steps toward getting medical marijuana in the hands of patients.

The latest advancement occurred in Bethlehem where Keystone Canna Remedies opened a dispensary. It has no medical marijuana to dispense yet from licensed growers/processors. Instead, it will begin holding educational and informational sessions until it has products to sell to patients who have state-issued cards.

Pennsylvania’s elected Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, another Democrat, also criticized Sessions’ directive. DePasquale, who supports the regulation and taxation of marijuana, said in a statement that Sessions “is spitting in the faces of the 64 percent of Americans who openly support marijuana legalization.”

“Our attorney general is stuck in the Dark Ages. He is using finite federal resources to fight a war against drugs that was lost decades ago. He showed just how clueless he really is by comparing marijuana to heroin. The days of calling pot a ‘gateway drug’ are long past, and it appears Jeff Sessions wants to drag the country back into the past as well,” said DePasquale.

DePasquale
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_DePasquale-1-.jpg.optimal.jpgDePasquale

Wolf
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/web1_WolfMugforFront.cmyk_.jpg.optimal.jpgWolf

By Times Leader Staff