Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jul 2016
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Frank Gluck, Associated Press

FIRST FLORIDA MEDICAL MARIJUANA READY

TALLAHASSEE (AP) - Florida's first legal harvest of marijuana is 
stored in multiple vacuum-packed, 441-gram bags in a freezer on the 
outskirts of Tallahassee.

Each is the result of months of careful growing, monitoring, coaxing, 
and finally cultivating, scores of plants in a hidden farm overseen 
by horticulturalists and protected by armed guards.

This is one of two production facilities run by Surterra 
Therapeutics, the first of six companies to win state approval to 
grow and harvest medical marijuana for the seriously ill and dying.

It is part pharmaceutical production facility, part grow house. Its 
operators say it is just the start of new business they hope will 
bring high-quality, and formerly unavailable, medicine to patients 
who need it the most.

"It's a very exciting place to be in the medical field in Florida 
right now, because this is not just a new medication we're talking 
about," said Dr. Joseph Dorn, Surterra's medical director, whose 
career includes a dozen years in Florida hospice care. "This is a 
mindset transformation in the treatment of patients, probably tens of 
thousands of patients whose symptoms are not completely relieved right now."

Florida laws adopted in 2014 and this year allow two types of medical 
marijuana: non-euphoric strains, such as "Charlotte's Web," that is 
thought to help control seizures and ease symptoms of certain other 
medical conditions; and full-strength marijuana to alleviate pain, 
nausea and other symptoms for patients considered terminally ill.

Since Surterra won approval to harvest last month, Florida has 
allowed four other companies to do the same: Chestnut Hill Tree Farm 
in Alachua County, Hackney Nursery in Gadsden County, Modern Health 
Concepts in Miami-Dade County, and Knox Nursery in Orange County.

Such businesses are poised to expand considerably if the required 60 
percent of voters in November cast 'Yes' ballots for Amendment 2, 
which would legalize full-strength marijuana for an estimated 450,000 
Floridians with debilitating illnesses.

And Surterra, an Atlanta-based startup that partnered with the 
30-year-old Homestead-based Alpha Foliage, plans to be among the 
state's largest producers.

The company operates a 6,000-square-foot facility in rural 
Tallahassee to grow the noneuphoric strain; another slightly smaller 
facility outside of Tampa grows the full-strength variety. Each is 
expected to supply medicine for 2,000 to 4,000 patients per month.

Surterra's primary growing facility outside of Tallahassee is housed 
in a windowless structure in a sparsely populated, rural area outside 
of the city. The building is under 24-7 video surveillance and is 
surrounded by a chain-linked fence with barbed wire.

Nothing of the growing operation can be seen from the main road, and 
no signs announce its presence.

Employees and others that the company allows on the property must 
pass through two checkpoints, each with an armed guard, before 
reaching the main building.

In truth, it's a lot of expense and effort for marijuana that would 
be useless to most wouldbe recreational smokers. This 
high-cannabidiol, low-tetrahydrocannabinol (or THC) type of cannabis 
does not produce the high typical of recreational marijuana.

Florida law requires patients have at least a 90-day relationship 
with a doctor authorized to obtain marijuana before they may have 
access to the drug. For now, only four physicians in Lee, Collier and 
Charlotte counties have received approval to order marijuana for patients.

Though marijuana remains illegal under federal law, authorities have 
generally allowed the states to experiment with legalization since 
1996, when California voters first authorized its use for certain 
medical conditions.

Twenty-five states, the District of Columbia and Guam allow 
comprehensive marijuana use for medical purposes, and several others 
are considering it this year, according to the National Conference of 
State Legislatures.

Another 17, including Florida, allow for more limited medical marijuana use.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom