Medical marijuana evaluation office to open in Kittanning

A new office providing medical marijuana evaluations and certifications is opening in Kittanning.

Compassionate Certification Centers, a U.S. medical marijuana healthcare system, is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony inside The Rehab Centre on Friday morning.

The Kittanning facility is located near Armstrong County Memorial Hospital and will provide medical marijuana certification services to a rural enclave of the county. Under state law, the facility cannot dispense marijuana products. Patients must get the actual products from one of the state’s licensed dispensaries.

A certification center evaluates patients and determines if they qualify for medical marijuana treatment under one or more of the state’s listed conditions approved for marijuana treatment.

“We are seeing more and more patients desiring cannabis as a natural treatment for opioid reduction therapy,” said Darlene Geppert, Director of Clinical Cannabis Operations and Training.

Pennsylvania was one of the first states to approve medical cannabis for opiate therapy along with New York and Illinois.

“I spent over a decade as an emergency room RN and, in my experience, nothing has been as successful as medical cannabis for opiate therapy, not Suboxone, Methadone, or Vivitrol,” said Aimee Faiella, Senior Executive Nurse at Compassionate Certification Centers.

The county saw a significant decrease in opioid overdose deaths in 2018, according to the Armstrong-Indiana Clarion Drug and Alcohol Commission.