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Pennsylvania has legalized the use of medical marijuana on Sunday and has marked itself as the 24th state in the US that allows the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Governor Tom Wolf signed the bill legalizing medical marijuana at a ceremony in the Capitol rotunda in the presence of lawmakers by his side.

Once after the bill was passed 42-7 in Senate on Tuesday, Senate Bill 3 was passed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Wednesday, 149-46, in favor of medical marijuana use. According to the bill, doctors in Pennsylvania are allowed to prescribe marijuana for patients with particular ailments in the form of ointment, pills, oil or liquid. The medical marijuana could be vaporized and inhaled however smoking of the cannabis is prohibited, according to WNEP.

However, Gov. Wolf has noted that doctors are the ones responsible for making the decision whether or not the patient should be recommended the marijuana-based treatment.

The bill allows the medical marijuana recommendation for 17 medical conditions that include:

Autism

Huntington's Disease

Cancer

Crohn's Disease

Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity

Intractable Seizures

Epilepsy

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Parkinson's Disease

Neuropathies

Glaucoma

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) / AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

Sickle Cell Anemia

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Inflammatory Bowel Syndrome

Multiple Sclerosis

Severe chronic or intractable pain of neuropathic origin or severe chronic or intractable pain in which conventional therapeutic intervention and opiate therapy is contraindicated or ineffective

Opioid abuse has been a major concern in Pennsylvania and the state ranked 9th among fatal drug overdoses in the country in 2014. Legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes are believed to serve as a better alternative for opioid painkillers used excessively by quite a number of people in the state in recent days, noted AOL.

"In 30 days time, if we can get it legally somehow from another state that has it, we can start treatment for our son," said Northumberland County resident Maria Belkadi, reported Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Belkadi, who has a seven-year-old son suffering from severe autism, has hope on marijuana based intervention.

"I can only dream of what it'll be like to have him go a week without him attacking me physically or screaming uncontrollably, melting down, hurting other people, biting other people and just suffering," she added.