HARRISBURG, PA (WSKG) -- Eight of Pennsylvania's universities -- including one in the midstate -- have received the go-ahead to start studying medical marijuana.
Governor Tom Wolf's administration is billing the move as the commonwealth's "first step towards clinical research" on the drug.
The eight medical universities and colleges in question are Drexel University College of Medicine, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Penn State College of Medicine at Hershey, Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Wolf said declaring them Certified Academic Clinical Research Centers will help bulk up the meager research that's been done federally on medical marijuana.
The move comes amid a slew of recent changes in Pennsylvania's drug program.
Later this week, the Department of Health is slated to implement a number of new regulations suggested by its Medical Marijuana Advisory Board.
Those include broadening the medical conditions that can merit prescription of medical marijuana, to include things like opioid addiction.
They'll also allow sale of marijuana in its dry-leaf form, so patients can use it in vaporizers.