What Is Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act (Act 16)?

Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana Act, signed into law on April 17, 2016 and codified at 35 P.S. §§ 10231.101–10231.2110, lets patients with any of 24 qualifying medical conditions get cannabis-based treatment from state-licensed dispensaries after a physician certifies them.¹ The law sets the rules for who can be certified, what products are sold, how much you can buy, and what workplace protections you have. It does not override federal law, so a Pennsylvania card still leaves you exposed on firearms, federally assisted housing, air travel, and DUI.

Who Qualifies as a Patient

You need a diagnosis of at least one of the Department of Health’s 24 approved conditions. The current list:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Anxiety disorders
Autism
Cancer, including remission therapy
Chronic hepatitis C
Crohn’s disease
Damage to central nervous system tissue with intractable spasticity and associated neuropathies
Dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders
Epilepsy
Glaucoma
HIV/AIDS
Huntington’s disease
Inflammatory bowel disease
Intractable seizures
Multiple sclerosis
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neuropathies
Opioid use disorder, when conventional treatments are ineffective or as adjunctive therapy
Parkinson’s disease
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Severe chronic or intractable pain, including neuropathic pain
Sickle cell anemia
Terminal illness
Tourette syndrome

Anxiety disorders were added in July 2019, which significantly broadened the patient population.²

Getting Certified and Getting the Card

Only MDs and DOs with active Pennsylvania licenses can certify patients, and only after they register with the Department of Health and finish a four-hour state-approved training course.³ The certification visit is defined in 28 Pa. Code § 1141a.21 as a “patient consultation,” meaning a complete examination of you and your health records. The physician has to confirm you have a qualifying condition, that you are under their continuing care, and that you are likely to benefit. A certifying physician can list up to 10 qualifying conditions and can set limits on the form or dosage of cannabis you use.⁴

Since Act 44 of 2021, the consultation can happen by phone or video rather than in person.³ Certifications must be renewed every year. You will get an email reminder 60 days before your certification and card expire, and you can see your physician for recertification any time after that notice.

After your physician submits the certification electronically, you register with the state’s Medical Marijuana Registry, verify Pennsylvania residency with a driver’s license or state ID, and pay $50 for the card.² The fee is waived if you participate in Medicaid, PACE/PACENET, CHIP, SNAP, or WIC. Pennsylvania does not recognize other states’ cards, and your Pennsylvania card does not let you buy or legally transport cannabis across state lines.

Caregivers

If you cannot visit a dispensary or manage your own medication, you can designate a caregiver to buy and transport products for you. A caregiver must be at least 21, hold a valid Pennsylvania driver’s license or state ID, register with the Department of Health, and pass a criminal background check. Each caregiver can serve up to five patients. The caregiver card also costs $50 and is covered by the same fee waivers available to patients.²

What You Can Buy, and How Much

Pennsylvania limits the forms cannabis can be sold in: pills, capsules, oils, liquids, tinctures, topicals, concentrates, and dry leaf for vaporization.⁴ Smoking whole-plant flower is not allowed. You can vaporize dry leaf in a device that heats without combustion, but a pipe or a joint is not permitted.

A dispensary cannot sell you more than a 90-day supply at one time, measured as 192 medical marijuana units. One unit is 3.5 grams of dry leaf, one gram of concentrate, or 100 milligrams of THC in an infused product like a pill, oil, or tincture. You cannot refill until you have used all but a seven-day supply from your current certification, and every transaction is tracked through the state’s electronic system. If your physician set limits on form or dose, the dispensary has to follow them.

Where You Cannot Use It

Use in public, on a school bus, on school grounds, or in a correctional facility is prohibited. Use at work is off-limits unless the employer specifically permits it, which is rare. Home use is generally the safest option, with the HUD caveat below for anyone in federally assisted housing.

Driving

This is the trap patients most often miss. Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(1), it is illegal to drive with any amount of a Schedule I controlled substance or its metabolite in your blood.⁵ Marijuana is Schedule I under Pennsylvania’s controlled substances act, and THC metabolites can stay detectable in your blood for days or weeks after use. That means a DUI charge is possible even when you are not impaired. The medical marijuana card does not create an exception. Legislation to close this gap has been proposed but has not passed as of early 2026.

Air Travel

TSA checkpoints are federal. TSA officers do not actively search for marijuana, but if they see something that appears to be cannabis during routine screening, they are required to refer the matter to law enforcement.⁶ Do not bring medical cannabis through airport security or onto a flight.

Your Job and Your Card

Section 2103 of the Medical Marijuana Act bars employers from firing, refusing to hire, or otherwise discriminating against you solely because you are a certified patient. The operative word is “solely.” The law does not force employers to tolerate on-the-job impairment, allow use at work, or waive their drug policies. Pennsylvania courts have allowed discipline based on a positive THC test when job duties or employer policy justify it. Protections are strongest when you use at home, outside working hours, in a role that is not safety-sensitive.

Federal workplaces are tighter. The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 requires any organization with a federal contract of $100,000 or more, or any size federal grant, to maintain a policy prohibiting controlled substances in the workplace.⁷ The Department of Transportation flatly prohibits marijuana use for all safety-sensitive employees subject to DOT drug testing, including truck drivers, school bus drivers, pilots, train engineers, and pipeline emergency personnel. A state medical marijuana card is not a defense.⁶

Federal Law the Card Does Not Fix

Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act. In December 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Justice to complete the rescheduling process to Schedule III, but that process is not finished as of early 2026.⁸ Until rescheduling takes effect, several federal rules still bind Pennsylvania patients.

Firearms

Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), any “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” is prohibited from shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving a firearm or ammunition.⁹ Because marijuana is federally illegal, a patient who uses cannabis regularly falls inside that prohibition even though the use is legal under Pennsylvania law.

An ATF interim final rule effective January 22, 2026 revised the definition of “unlawful user” to require evidence of regular use over an extended period continuing into the present. Isolated or sporadic use no longer triggers the ban.¹⁰ For most medical cannabis patients using the medicine on an ongoing basis, the prohibition still applies. If you buy a firearm from a licensed dealer, the federal background check form asks whether you are an unlawful user of a controlled substance. Lying on that form is a separate federal offense.

Federally Assisted Housing

HUD prohibits admission of marijuana users, including medical cannabis patients, to federally assisted housing programs. The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 requires public housing agencies to establish policies barring admission based on illegal use of controlled substances, and HUD treats all marijuana use as illegal under federal law regardless of state authorization.¹¹ For current tenants, the housing agency has the authority to terminate the lease if it finds a household member is using a controlled substance. If you live in public housing or hold a Section 8 voucher, a Pennsylvania card will not protect you.

Banking and Cash

Federal law treats cannabis revenue as proceeds of illegal activity, so banks that serve the industry face regulatory risk. Financial institutions must file suspicious activity reports when providing services to cannabis businesses, and many refuse to open accounts at all. The practical result is that much of Pennsylvania’s cannabis industry runs on cash, which is why dispensaries often prefer debit or cash over credit cards.

Penalties for Falling Outside the Program

Possessing cannabis without a valid certification, exceeding your 90-day supply, or using an unapproved form puts you back under Pennsylvania’s standard marijuana laws. Possession of 30 grams or less without authorization is a misdemeanor carrying up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $500. More than 30 grams is also a misdemeanor but carries up to one year in jail and fines up to $5,000. Selling or giving your medical cannabis to someone who is not a registered patient can bring felony distribution charges with substantially harsher penalties.

Physicians who issue certifications improperly, keep inaccurate records, or break program rules face Department of Health discipline, which can include suspension from the program and referral to the State Board of Medicine for action against their medical license.

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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Medical Marijuana | Department of Health
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Department of Health. Medical Marijuana Patients
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Medical Marijuana Resources for Medical Professionals in the Medical Marijuana Program
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PA.GOV. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of the Medical Marijuana Final-Form Regulations
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Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 75 – Section 3802 – Driving Under Influence of Alcohol or Controlled Substance
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U.S. Department of Transportation. DOT’s Notice on Testing for Marijuana
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SAMHSA. Federal Contractors and Grantees
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Congress.gov. Rescheduling Marijuana: Implications for Criminal and Collateral Consequences
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922
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Federal Register. Revising Definition of Unlawful User of or Addicted to Controlled Substance
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HUD Exchange. Can a Public Housing Agency (PHA) Make a Reasonable Accommodation for Medical Marijuana