The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (CRC) is now allowing Physician Assistants (PAs) and Nurse Practitioners (Advanced Practice registered Nurses or APNs) to enroll MMJ patients.
Thus, they can write the recommendations MMJ patients use to buy cannabis at dispensaries.
“Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are an integral part of medical practices and are involved in patient care, diagnosis, and prescribing medicine,” said CRC Executive Director Jeff Brown. “We are excited to implement the process for them to participate in the program. To provide greater access to patients and to make the process more efficient for care provider offices.”
To participate in the program, PAs and APNs will have to meet the same requirements physicians do. That includes being licensed and in good standing in New Jersey. They also must be part of a practice in the state with an office.
This has been an issue for some time. The Jake Honig Act of 2019 expanded the medical cannabis program allow PAs and APNs to register MMJ patients. But the CRC had not yet enacted it.
The New Jersey CRC establishes and enforces the rules and regulations governing the licensing, cultivation, testing, selling, and purchasing of cannabis in the state.
They have a lot of work to do.
