A Pennsylvania Senate committee unanimously passed a bill, co-sponsored by Delaware County Sen. Daylin Leach, legalizing medical marijuana use.

“It’s time to stop relying on old fear tactics and fairy tales to sustain irrational policies and deny people what will help them,” Leach, D-17, of Upper Merion, said before committee members convened last Tuesday.

Once enacted, patients dealing with an array of mental and physical disorders, including children, are allowed to use medical marijuana for treatment. Cannabis dispensers and growers would sprout across the commonwealth to distribute doctor-prescribed marijuana.

Strict regulations and licensing fees would monitor the distribution and use of the narcotic. Smoking cannabis is still banned under this bill.

“There are sick people this medicine can really be helpful to,” Leach said. “It’s cruel and heartless to deny people medicine that can help.”

Lawmakers pushing this legislation must face “procedural hurdles and discussion of language” moving forward, Leach...