In 1996, California took the first step in fifty years towards cannabis acceptance. Now, twenty-five short years later, the most recent Pew report shows that 91% of surveyed Americans are in favor of legalizing medical cannabis. The overwhelming majority of Americans want to declare cannabis as medicine.

Since the beginning of modern medicine, physicians have always collaborated with pharmacists. Cannabis itself was being dispensed by pharmacists in the United States up until 1942 when cannabis was removed from the US Pharmacopeia – much to the dismay of the American Medical Association. 

Despite the rapidly growing public access to cannabis in California, the pharmacy profession has had virtually no input on regulations ensuring the efficacy and safety of products available to consumers. In addition, patients have few options when seeking professional advice regarding dosing, side effects, drug interactions, and product selection, due to Federal law and the lack of formal education currently available to pharmacists.

Pharmacists’ Cannabis Coalition of California (PCCC) aims to close the gap created by prohibition, bringing pharmacists back into the medical cannabis care model. Pharmacists are touted as the medication experts within the collaborative healthcare team, and because cannabis is medicine, it should be treated no differently than other medications.

Therefore, to create the cannabis industry that patients and consumers deserve, PCCC will collaborate with state and local agencies to improve upon existing regulations and help develop gold-standard cannabis labeling criteria. Building upon those labeling standards, PCCC aspires to provide accessible, high quality and evidence-based cannabis educational resources to both consumers and healthcare providers.  PCCC will support the California cannabis industry through advocacy efforts aimed at improving patient safety, ensuring access to cannabis across all socioeconomic classes, and supporting the safe and effective use of cannabinoid medicines within the veterinary realm.

As leaders in the medical cannabis space, PCCC will work to create a global model of excellence for cannabis consumer safety through advocacy, education, and policy.