Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program has allowed doctors with past misconduct to certify patients. AP Photo/Julio Cortez Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters .

HARRISBURG — Matthew Roman used to be Pennsylvania’s top doctor for getting a medical marijuana card.

In 2018, the year dispensaries began selling cannabis in the state, Roman was the only doctor to issue more than 3,000 medical marijuana certifications in Pennsylvania, according to Health Department records obtained by Spotlight PA through a Commonwealth Court decision .

Back then, Roman was more than just a prolific certifier.

He sued federal officials in 2018, claiming they unconstitutionally blocked people enrolled in state medical cannabis programs from buying a gun.

On social media, he showed off his medical marijuana card and offered the chance to win free card consultations. In a late 2017 video viewed by Spotlight PA, he appeared to roll and smoke marijuana while in Delaware.

Underneath all the attention, Roman had a drug problem, he later said. And soon it all came crashing down. A state medical board disciplined him in 2019 . The consent agreement he entered into said he displayed a problematic pattern of cannabis use “leading to clinically significant impairment” and met the criteria for cannabis use disorder. He lost his ability to certify patients for the state’s medical marijuana program.

Roman, by his own account , worked hard to get back on track. In a letter to the Health Department last year , he described the effort he put into addressing his cannabis use disorder diagnosis, including inpatient rehab, group therapy, individual therapy, as well as drug testing. He wrote that “after over four years of sobriety from marijuana and alcohol,” his views on medical marijuana have changed, saying that “it should be a last resort.”

But after Roman’s medical license was reinstated in 2023 and his probation was lifted, the Health Department denied his application to return to the medical marijuana program.Officials with the agency have since fought to keep him from […]

Prior misconduct rarely an obstacle for doctors…