When I first certify a new patient for Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana (MMJ) program I always certify them for one year, the maximum amount of time.  When they receive their card there is an expiration date listed on the card itself.  After about 10 months the State MMJ Program sends out an email to the patient to let them know their card is about to expire.  They usually send two additional emails with further information and a deadline for making payment, usually 2 weeks before the card’s expiration date.  It is this two week payment date that ends up confusing many patients.

The renewal is two simple steps: 1) pay the State their $50 and 2) have a renewal appointment with us for which we charge $100.  These two steps can be accomplished in either order.  The emails from Harrisburg do not specify this.  All of our appointments are by telemedicine and you can schedule from “Schedule Your Visit” or call us at 484-602-4438 to schedule.

Additionally,  if you do not pay the State their $50 in a timely manner they will turn your card off 2 weeks prior to the actual expiration date on your card.  This causes no end of difficulty with our patients.  They often discover this problem when they go to a dispensary to purchase a little extra product to hold them over until they receive their new card.  The dispensaries encounter this problem every day.

If they turn off your card but there are still several days remaining until the expiration date shown on the card you may simply go to the state’s website, medicalmarijuana.pa.gov, log on and click the “Make Payment” button and make your payment.  Once you have done this the State with automatically turn your card back on and it will be good right up until the expiration date.

Another problem area pops up with the timing of your payment once you receive the original email from the State at the 10 month mark.  Many of our patients can go online and make their payment 60 days prior to their card expiring, but not everyone.  However, some patients will have to wait until their card is within 30 days of expiration to make the payment.  I have never been able to figure out which patients are placed in which category.

Finally, if you let your card expire it is very easy to renew your certification from our standpoint since we have already started a chart for you.  However, the State will stick with your original payment date which can result in your payment being “uncoupled” from your card’s expiration.  You may end up, for example, paying the State in November but not needing to renew your card until May.  It’s easy for us to get you renewed but you have to keep an eye on your emails from the State in order to stay up to date on your payments.

If you encounter payment problems and cannot get them sorted out, the State has a Help Line you can call at 888-733-5595.  If you work your way through the menu, you will get to speak with an actual human.  Good luck. Hope this helped.

Dr. Harris