“I’m a cancer patient. I have neuropathy in my hands and feet and terrible insomnia,” said Anna Squitieri of South Philadelphia.
Hernina Gamble said: “I have anxiety and I was just diagnosed with cancer.”
As a treatment, they chose to use medical marijuana for pain management.
Squitieri said, “Your other option is pills and I’m not a person of a pill.”
Gamble said, “I did not like having to take so many painkillers and it did not help.”
These women are part of a medical marijuana trend in Pennsylvania that exploded specifically at the time of the coronavirus.
Action News spoke with Mike Badey, who owns Keystone Shops, a medical marijuana dispensary with locations in Philadelphia, Devon and King of Prussia.
“We have seen an almost doubling in the total turnover and counting of patients,” Badey said.
He says the catalyst behind the rapid growth during the virus is telemedicine.
“That patients can now get their medical marijuana card directly over the phone and we can now allow delivery of parking spaces, which is what we do at all three of our stores. There is little to no contact delivery,” Badey said.
Barry Greenberg of The Greener Institute in Hatboro, Pennsylvania agrees.
“It was an enormous opportunity for people,” he says.
His shop is not a dispensary, but he offers training and connects people with his team of doctors for consultation.
He adds that, without question, there is a link between the virus and fear.
Pennsylvania is one of the few states where a diagnosis of anxiety qualifies someone for a medical prescription for marijuana.
“COVID-19 came around and a lot of people are very scared and have problems that way and are finding medical marijuana is useful to them,” Greenberg said.
In fact, according to the Pennsylvania State Health Department, since the program was founded two and a half years ago, total sales in early February were $ 415 million.
But just a short six months later, in early August, that number had nearly doubled, climbing to $ 789 million. Plus, about 100,000 new patients registered during that six-month period.
Greenberg says the company is going up by 400%.
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