HARRISBURG — Legislation allowing terminally ill patients to have access to medical marijuana is moving forward in Harrisburg.
Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny) said House Bill 2254, also known as Ryan’s Law, passed in the Pennsylvania House on Monday with a bipartisan vote of 174-27.
Click here to view who voted for or against this bill.
The bill would “ensure that terminally ill patients are not denied access to medical cannabis simply because they are receiving care in a hospital.”
“Today, the House came together to do something simple and compassionate: give people at the end of their lives more choices about how they spend their final days,” Frankel said. “This bill is about easing suffering and preserving dignity for patients facing unimaginable circumstances.”
Frankel said the bill honors Ryan Bartell, who served in the Coast Guard and died at age 41 from pancreatic cancer.
“Ryan woke up from what his father described as a semi-comatose state and pleaded to be taken off fentanyl because he did not want to spend his last weeks sleeping,” Frankel said. “What House Bill 2254 really does is give some very sick people the chance to spend their final days conscious, comfortable and connected to the people they love.”
Bartell was also a father, an athlete and an educator.
The bill now moves to the Senate.
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