HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania will take applications to grow and distribute medical marijuana over the next couple of months with hopes of having the system up and running by mid-2018, health officials said Wednesday.

Health Secretary Karen Murphy said permit applications for dispensaries and for grower-processors will be available online starting Jan. 17. The monthlong application period will begin Feb. 20 for the first phase, which involves up to 12 grower-processor permits and as many as 27 dispensary licenses. Each dispensary can operate three locations.The Health Department is dividing up the permits among six regions, with the southeastern part of the state around Philadelphia slated to get the most dispensary licenses - up to 10. Southwestern Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh, will get as many as five.The state's Office of Medical Marijuana now has eight employees, including a liaison who has begun meeting with patients. About 5,000 people have provided public comments on the program, most commonly listing pain and post-traumatic stress as their qualifying medical conditions, officials said."While this is a regulatory process, we always keep in mind this is a medically focused program," Murphy told reporters at a Capitol news conference.The law enacted earlier this year allows patients to take the medicine by pill, oil, vapor, ointment or liquid - but not in a form that can be smoked.As the state develops the program, people who are caring for children who could benefit from medical marijuana are eligible to apply for "safe harbor" letters to insulate them from criminal charges if they bring marijuana in the form permitted by law into the state.John Collins, who heads the Office of Medical Marijuana, said the state has not been tracking where or how the parents and others are obtaining the drug. So far 134 safe-harbor applications have been approved.The Health Department has convened a physicians' working group, which met late last month and recommended clearer guidelines for doctors, training on dosage and flexibility in rules for different areas of the state.