Pubdate: Fri, 09 May 2014
Source: Bradenton Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Bradenton Herald
Contact: http://www.bradenton.com/submit-letter/
Website: http://www.bradenton.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58
Author: Mary Ellen

POTENTIAL FLORIDA POT CROP PROMPTS FLURRY OF INTEREST, BUT BUSINESS 
WILL BE LIMITED

A tropical plant farmer in Gainesville is hoping marijuana will be 
the crop that finally helps him make money. An orchid grower in 
Homestead has already researched the best machines to extract the oil 
from the low-THC cannabis to make it available to patients. A 
vegetable farmer in Highlands County says he's got the money, the 
greenhouses and the technology, so all he needs is the security 
cameras and armed guards.

And at the Florida Medical Cannabis Association, the phone is ringing 
off the hook from vendors, distributors and investors who want in on 
Florida's expected new crop.

This flash of interest was ignited by Florida legislators last week 
when they passed a bill on the final day of session opening the door 
to a low-THC strain of medical marijuana to treat people suffering 
from epileptic seizures, muscle spasms and cancer.

But a last-minute amendment to the bill (SB 1030), which Gov. Rick 
Scott has promised to sign into law, will keep a tight lid on growers 
wanting to cash in on the medical marijuana business. The amendment 
limits the number of growers to just five, parsed by geography in 
five different regions of the state.

And the bill requires that only those growers who have been in 
business continuously for 30 years and have inventories of 400,000 or 
more plants would qualify to compete for the five regional permits. 
That means only 21 of the hundreds of nurseries in Florida meet those 
strict requirements, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture.

"Is 30 years an arbitrary number? Probably, but it's a first step," 
said Ben Bolusky, CEO of the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape 
Association, whose organization helped to develop the amendment.

Opponents say the attempt to cull the competition was arbitrary and 
unfair. Bolusky and other supporters say it will help to ensure that 
a financially strong grow-house and distribution system will get up 
and running so that patients can get a safe product quickly.

"It certainly telegraphs that they didn't want any new or 
fly-by-night operations to set up in Florida," he said.

The bill requires the Department of Health to write the rules and 
select which applicants will be eligible to grow the marijuana by 
Jan. 1, 2015. The marijuana must contain 0.8 percent or less of the 
psychoactive THC or tetrahydrocannabinol, and more than 10 percent of 
CBD or cannabidiol, the ingredient which helps to control seizures.

Growers must work closely with the University of Florida's 
agriculture school, obtain a $5 million bond, have the ability to 
sustain operations for at least two years, conduct employee 
background checks, prove they can run a secure operation and be able 
to distribute the product. The dispensing operation must hire a 
medical doctor to supervise the sale to patients and all employees 
must be screened.

"It would not be an inexpensive proposition," Bolusky said. "Clearly 
the Legislature didn't want everybody jumping in. They want to be 
able to monitor, regulate and enforce those business operations."

The House amendment caught many by surprise, including Senate 
Republicans failed to broaden it to include any farmer, not just 
nurseries, who have been in business 10 years or more.

The amendment "infringes on free market principles that we all stand 
up for in this chamber," said Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, who warned 
that the continuous operation requirement eliminates many South 
Florida growers who were temporarily shut-down during Hurricane Andrew.

Cerise Naylor, executive director of the Florida Medical Cannabis 
Association, which runs a clearinghouse for growers and vendors to 
get information and create partnerships, said the amendment "threw a 
curve ball at everybody."

"This shut the door on a lot of people," she said. "A lot of people 
are angry. Now people are working to find growers who are willing to 
do this and partner up."

Eric Cord of Windmill Farms in Zolfo Springs said he has already been 
contacted by several people who want to partner. "I believe the 
investment is going to be quite large," he said. "But we have no idea 
what the return is going to be."

Prospective investors from around Florida and the nation have been 
lining up for several weeks as it appeared that the Legislature was 
going to pass the bill for a limited strain of medical cannabis, said 
Louis Rotundo, lobbyist for the Medical Cannabis Association.

"My phone has been blowing up for three days -- from every business 
profession to growers, to those who invest in the growers," he said. 
"My advice to everybody is sit tight. This is a developing story. 
Let's see where this goes because the pressure is on the Department of Health."

Many believe that the regulatory framework established now for the 
limited strain of marijuana will serve as the foundation to limit the 
scope of a constitutional amendment on the November ballot if voters 
approve legalizing marijuana for a broader range of medical purposes.

"Growers have had the mindset for many years that if Florida were 
ever to get medical marijuana, everybody and their brother is going 
to put an acre in and drive down the cost," said Randy Gilde, CEO of 
Delray Plants and one of the chosen 21 now eligible to grow it. "The 
way this is set up, that's not going to happen, so we're looking at it."

Like many of the nursery owners on the list of 21, Alan Shapiro of 
Grandiflora in Gainesville said he doesn't "know anything about 
growing marijuana" but he's already been contacted by investors and 
is considering it.

"The nursery business has been pretty bad for the last five or six 
years," he said. "It would be nice to make some money for a change 
instead of losing money."

One of the companies on the list is Simpson Nurseries, a massive farm 
in North Florida, operated by the family of state Rep. Halsey Beshears.

Beshears, R-Monticello, is a freshman state representative whose 
campaign treasurer is the lobbyist for the Florida Nursery Growers 
Landscape Association. Beshears' cousin is Adam Hollingsworth, Gov. 
Scott's chief of staff. It's unclear why Beshears didn't file a 
conflict of interest report when he voted for the bill, but his 
father says it's unlikely the company will　farm　marijuana.

"We're certainly not thinking about it today," said Fred Beshears, 
owner of Simpson Nurseries in Monticello. "I'm very leery about that 
and anything to do with marijuana."

The amendment sponsor, Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Lehigh Acres, said the 
goal was to err on the side of limiting who could qualify now, and 
adjust it going forward. "We're doing something new and completely 
different," he said.

Caldwell predicted it will take the state six months to develop rules 
and choose distributors. Growers say it will take another 10 weeks to 
grow the marijuana and extract the oil. "I guarantee we're going to 
be back next year to correct our mistakes," he said.

Not everyone who qualified as a grower under the bill is eager to get 
into the pot business.

Kevin Rehberg, controller at Speedling, Inc., a 60-acre nursery in 
Bushnell, just north of Tampa, said that privately-owned companies 
are more likely to be willing to take the risk than his, which has 
been in business for more than 30 years but is owned by a Singapore company.

"Our ethics policy as it relates to our ownership group based in 
Singapore would preclude us from getting involved even if it were 
made legal by the state," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom