Medical marijuana discussed at Butler Neighborhood Drug Watch meeting
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is adding drug and alcohol dependency to the list of medical conditions that qualify patients to obtain medical marijuana.
That was one of the subjects that Beth Bittner of Cresco Yeltrah, a medical marijuana dispenser and grower, told a small audience that attended a Butler Neighborhood Drug Watch meeting Wednesday in the Holly Pointe Building in Butler.
Bittner said she has witnessed significant quality of life improvements in cancer and autism patients who take medical marijuana. She also suggested there could be a link between a decline in overdose deaths in the county and the opening of the dispensary in Butler in February.
“I've seen incredible things with this,” Bittner said.
Autistic children who never spoke started talking and a cancer patient who was bedridden from the morphine used to treat his pain was able to move freely, she said.
“Everybody in the community needs to be educated. What made this (medical marijuana) law happen is parents who watched their children suffer,” Bittner said.
Terminally ill patients who live in states that don't allow the use of medical marijuana or don't have one of the qualifying medical conditions will be able to try medical marijuana now because President Donald Trump signed the “Right to Try” bill into law earlier in the day, she said.
“With President Trump signing that bill today, that's huge,” she said.
However, medical marijuana is extremely difficult to obtain for those not authorized to have it.
Dispensaries have security cameras nearly everywhere and approved patients must use their state-issued medical marijuana cards to get through the automated doors, she said.
“It's more difficult to get into a dispensary than it is the Pentagon,” Bittner said.
Some employees do not have access to the highly secure parts of the building such as the growing and processing rooms, she said,
Every seed and plant clone used to grow the different varieties of marijuana and the adult plants are numbered and tracked. Unused parts of the plants are processed in a way to make the material unuseable, she said.
An unmarked vehicle driven by two people who don't wear uniforms transport the prepared medical marijuana, which is made into various forms including capsules, oils, creams and lotions, from growing facilities to dispensaries, she said.
The delivery route is given to the state and the state is notified if the vehicle deviates from the route or is late.
The delivery drivers don't have the codes needed to open the boxes they deliver containing the medication, she said.
The drug watch group meets every other month. Kathy Kline, Drug Watch organizer, and Butler Police Chief Ron Brown encouraged residents to call 911 if they see suspicious activities. Tips can be emailed to the police department at community relations@butlercitypd.com.
