Pennsylvania’s Medical Marijuana program was born out of caregiving. The “Mama Bears”, groups of mothers demanding cannabis options for their seriously ill children, had pressured and shamed legislators into action. Along with the help of some forward-thinking politicians, Act 16 legalized a medical marijuana program in PA. These mothers were now able to get medicine to ease the suffering of their children. One of the original Mama Bears, Diana Briggs, started PA Compassionate Caregivers and began helping non-family patients with getting medicine from the dispensary. People fighting cancer, people at end-of-life and, now, immuno-suppressed individuals, all need help getting their medicine without traveling to a dispensary. Our primary vision is to see the cannabis industry as being the best version of itself. In that spirit, we are pleased to see dispensary caregiver programs springing up in response to the pandemic at Terra Vida Holistic Centers, Ethos Dispensary (although as of this writing, it appears that Ethos has discontinued the program) and others across PA. As long as the services are free to the public and don’t have a minimum purchase requirement, we applaud these dispensaries as embodying community service. (Of course, adopting the Soulful Cannabis CREDO would be the best way for these dispensaries to demonstrate their commitment to patients).
If a patient isn’t within the circle of operation for these dispensary-sponsored caregiver programs, Soulful Cannabis is working to fill the gap. We are growing our network of Caregivers and can announce that (as of Oct. 1, 2020) we have “ready, willing and able” caregivers to serve the following zip-codes (and often neighboring zip codes):
- 15681
- 15851
- 17011
- 18508
- 18704
- 18072
- 18109
- 19063
- 19134
- 19404
If you need a caregiver in or near one of these zip codes, please reach out to us.
If you are interested in becoming a Soulful Caregiver, we have a lot of patient demand in the Lancaster area, the Lehigh Valley, and the Erie area. That said, we’d welcome any PA caregiver to join us.
Our Caregivers receive online training, periodic webinar/meeting support, reimbursed DOH caregiver registration fees and mileage expense reimbursement. Visit our Soulful Caregivers signup page to learn more.
As a final thought, we subscribe to the adage:
The nature of a community can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members
Caregiving by the cannabis industry matters. We thank our 2020 sponsors. They are cannabis industry members who support the work of Soulful Cannabis. 
I’m Soulful Steve. I’m a writer, IT professional, and daily user of cannabis for relief and wellness. Soulful Cannabis is where I share knowledge, product info, and occasional tall tales with those of you out there considered cannabis curious! Now that I’m getting older, I’m leaning into CBD products to keep my quality of life and take the edge off daily stress. Come explore the amazing cannabis plant with me!
