Local doctors approved to prescribe marijuana
Two doctors in Washington County and one in Greene County have been approved by the state Department of Health to prescribe medical marijuana to patients.
Dr. Evgueni Shchelchkov, who has a practice with Adult Neurology Center at 1025 Jefferson Ave., Washington, and Dr. Thomas Burnett, who has a practice with Legacy Medical Centers at 3540 Washington Road, McMurray, are the only two in Washington County so far with state approval to prescribe the drug.
In Greene County, Norihito Onishi, a practitioner with Blackwater Osteopathic Clinic at 186 Locust Ave., Mt. Morris, also has been approved.
“At the Department of Health, we’re developing the infrastructure to provide this medication to patients safely and effectively,” acting Health Secretary and Physician General Dr. Rachel Levine said in a video post on the department’s website. “To date we’ve issued permits to growers, processers and dispensaries, and we have begun the process for doctors to become approved practitioners for the program.”
According to the Department of Health’s website, in order to achieve state approval, the physicians registered with the state and completed a four-hour training course.
April Hutcheson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health, said the department then reviews whether those physicians have any issues with their licenses and whether they have any type of financial stake in a grow processor or dispensary.
“If they meet all of those standards, then the next step would be to approve them as a practitioner,” Hutcheson said.
She said the state has approved 109 practitioners, with more than 200 others going through the registration process.
Patients also will need to register with the state and obtain a certification specifying they suffer from one of the designated “17 serious medical conditions,” including cancer, HIV, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism and chronic pain. Also, patients will need to buy a state identification card, which allows them to purchase the marijuana from a state-licensed dispensary.
The Department of Health began registering patients earlier this month, and so far, have more than 3,200 patients registered but are not yet approved.
The state’s medical marijuana program began after medical use of the drug, under a doctor’s care, was legalized in April 2016.