A Lebanon judge who signed a policy prohibiting people under court supervision from using medical marijuana said that they couldn't wait any longer to make a decision on the matter.

"We felt as if we may get some guidance from the state, but time passes time passes time passes, and you’re not getting that guidance, and we just felt that we needed to do something," President Judge John C. Tylwalk said in an interview Wednesday.

The policy, which was signed Sept. 1, gives people 30 days to discontinue their medical marijuana use.

But as Lebanon becomes the first county in the midstate to have such a policy, legal experts are signaling there may be litigation on this issue.

"This is an issue that is going to have to be litigated in the appellate courts to get some consistency across the state," said Patrick Nightingale, a partner at Pittsburgh-based Cannabis Legal Solutions.

Nightingale said while a legislative solution would be better, it is likely that the courts will have to take action on this sooner rather than later.

State Sen. Mike Folmer, who represents Lebanon County and helped pass the medical marijuana bill, said Tuesday that they anticipated there would be things to "fine-tune" as the program was implemented. The probation issue is one of them, he said.

"We're gonna fight for these peoples' rights and do the best we can, but going through the legislative fix is gonna take a little bit of time," Folmer said. "In the meantime, (Lebanon County) should not be doing this."

Background:Lebanon County judge: People on probation can't use medical marijuana

Tylwalk said he has been taken aback by the blowback from his decision, saying he thinks restricting access to medical marijuana is in keeping with the purpose of county supervision.

"If you're a law-abiding citizen who hasn’t committed a crime, then this doesn’t apply to you," he said. "We're talking about people who have violated the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and as judges we are permitted to restrict the liberties of those folks and the rights of those folks if it's for a true rehabilitative purpose."

Tylwalk said the legalization of medical marijuana in Pennsylvania has raised a number of issues for the legal system, besides the question of medical marijuana use under probation.

The judge is also concerned about how to treat DUI charges that may be related to legal marijuana use, as a blood test may make it hard to distinguish between medical and illegal marijuana use.

More:Medical marijuana dispensary opens in Lebanon in July: Here's how it works

'Petrified of having to go a day without it'

Meanwhile, several people under county supervision with medical marijuana cards are desperate for a solution to their situation.

Melissa Gass, who went on probation after pleading guilty to charges relating to a 2017 altercation, uses medical marijuana to help keep her epileptic seizures at bay. Gass said she was hesitant to use medical marijuana at first, but it immediately helped her condition.

“I'm petrified of having to go a day without it,” Gass said through tears on Wednesday.

Gass said the drugs she was prescribed after being diagnosed with epilepsy last year zapped her energy, making it hard to get out of bed to care for her children. They also didn’t stop her seizures. Since starting medical marijuana, Gass has had only one seizure in two months.

She will be on probation for another year.

Although the policy as written applies to all people under court supervision in the county, Tylwalk said he is willing to work with people to determine if they should be allowed to continue to use their medical marijuana on a case-by-case basis.

Medical conditions - such as nausea from chemotherapy - may be viewed differently from mental health conditions such as anxiety, Tylwalk said.

"I don’t think we want to be heartless or lacking in sympathy or lacking in empathy," he said. "If we would have medical proof that there's nothing else that this person could use to relieve their symptoms, then we would be less than human if we were to say, 'I'm sorry you can’t use that.'

"But I think there's a medical necessity versus convenience or preference or whatever."

Nightingale said he thinks a lot of people mistakenly believe that it is easy to get a medical marijuana card.

The process is more regulated than people think, he said, and it would be easy for probation officers to work with individuals and dispensaries to track how much medical marijuana they were purchasing every month.

Set up for failure

Gass isn’t the only one being affected by the policy. Ashley Bennett of Lebanon uses medical marijuana to cope with PTSD, bipolar disorder, and stomach pain. After Bennett’s probation officer informed her of the policy banning the use of medical marijuana, she set up an appointment with her psychiatric doctor to see what she can do.

Bennett is hesitant to go back to using prescription medication. The medicine she used to take made some of her symptoms worse, she said.

But, Bennett also can’t go back to jail: She is a mother of a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old. Prior to using medical marijuana, Bennett said she was addicted to pills and cocaine. The prospect of going off medical marijuana scares her.

"They're setting us up for straight failure," she said.

Are you affected by this policy? Email nshelly@ldnews.com

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