Cancer patients may be able to find relief for their suffering at the aptly named Compassionate Certification Centers.

The business, based at 220 S. Main St., is a doctor-owned marijuana certification center that helps patients in Pennsylvania and West Virginia receive access to medical marijuana.

Dr. Bryan Doner, cofounder of the center, said, “We’ve been in Butler for seven or eight years since the Medical Marijuana Program in Pennsylvania started.”

“We are a physician-based group that provides evaluation and certification for people to enter the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Program,” said Doner, a graduate of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and board certified in emergency and hyperbaric medicine.

Although the Butler location is the organization’s only brick-and-mortar site, Doner said the centers’ five doctors can provide consultations and certifications via telemedicine interviews.

There used to be more physical locations, but the COVID pandemic closed them and brought about the centers’ reliance on telemed remote conferencing.

“We provide virtual services to 70% to 80% of patients and have available access across the entire state of Pennsylvania,” Doner said.

He said since its founding, his group has helped 100,000 people receive and renew their medical marijuana ID cards, enabling them to go to a dispensary and purchase marijuana.

Doner said conditions that could qualify a patient for a card include cancer, chronic pain, seizures and chronic anxiety.

The first step is to contact the centers by phone toll-free at 1-888-316-9085 or visit the website cccenters.org to schedule an appointment.

“You will talk to a doctor or have a telemed session. We’ll also take a history and perform a medical exam to see if you are eligible to obtain medical marijuana certification,” Doner said.

After a certification has been approved by a doctor, an applicant must return to the state’s online medical marijuana portal to complete an application, register with the state Department of Health and submit a $50 application fee to receive a card.

This is in addition to fees the Compassionate Care Centers will charge for certification or recertification, Doner said. Health insurance will not pay for medical marijuana certification or the cannabis itself, Doner said, although the centers will run special events and discounts, for example, for veterans.

The centers’ services do not end with the issuance of a medical marijuana card.

“Typically, what we will do after certification is provide guidance and support about how much and how often marijuana should be administered,” he said.

“Other doctors can do certifications, but not every doctor has the extra training that we do,” Doner said of himself and his fellow physicians.

Dosages and the method in which the marijuana is taken depend on the symptoms and the disease.

“The safest is taken orally,” Doner said. “You can inhale it, take it orally through a gummy, or spread it topically on your skin through an oil or a tincture.

“The method depends on the disease. If it’s inhaled the effect is rapid onset but short-lasting. With a gummy there is a slow onset but a longer duration lasting up to eight hours,” he said.

Doner emphasized the centers are not dispensaries and do not provide marijuana to patients, only the certification to obtain a state-issued card needed to enter a dispensary.

“The regulation was set up to provide a separation of church and state. A certification center can’t be a dispensary or a grower, so there’s no conflict,” he said.

Doner said medical marijuana can be used to control pain and anxiety.

“It helps cancer patients relieve the nausea, vomiting and increased sleep difficulties associated with the condition. There is research that indicates marijuana may have actual anticancer properties, but much more research is needed,” he said.

According to state law, possession of a medical marijuana card doesn’t allow its owner to smoke marijuana in public, nor act as a “get out of jail free” card if the holder stopped while driving under the influence of the drug.

In Pennsylvania, Doner said, because marijuana still is classified as a Schedule I drug, deemed a substance with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, cannabis is allowed to be bought only by people with a qualifying diagnosis from a doctor.

Doner said someday the federal Drug Enforcement Administration may reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug, meaning it has an accepted medical use and a lower potential for abuse than Schedules I or II drugs

“That would change the rules for everything,” Doner said. “That’s something we hope or think will happen.”