Pubdate: Thu, 21 Jul 2016
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Copyright: 2016 Sun-Sentinel Company
Contact: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-letters-to-the-editor-htmlstory.html
Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159

LOW-DOSE MEDICINAL POT TO BE FIRED UP NEXT WEEK

TALLAHASSEE- The first medical marijuana will be available in Florida 
next week.

Trulieve, a grower and dispensary based in Tallahassee, said 
Wednesday that it has received permission from the Department of 
Health to start selling a strain of the drug low in THC, the chemical 
that causes a euphoric high. The Florida Legislature in 2014 
legalized that variety of cannabis as a medical option for children 
with severe epilepsy and cancer. This is the first dispensing license 
fromthe state health department, Trulieve says. "We are happy to 
announce that we have passed all inspections-from growing and 
processing to dispensing- and are the very first medical cannabis 
provider in the state to receive these formal authorizations," 
Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said in a statement.

"And we are most excited to get this much anticipated medicine to the 
patients of Florida," Rivers added.

Cannabis will be available for delivery statewide, as well as at a 
dispensary in Tallahassee after a grand opening Tuesday, Rivers said.

Full-strength medical marijuana will be available from the company 
for terminally ill patients in early August.

The much-anticipated announcement is good news for patients after 
more than two years of waiting as the state's first medical marijuana 
program went through state rule-making and legal challenges.

Other licensed growers are close to releasing their first products as 
well. Alpha/Surterra, based in Tampa and Tallahassee, had its first 
harvest last week.

Florida's medical cannabis program is limited by state law.

A constitutional amendment on the ballot in November, backed by 
Orlando attorney John Morgan, seeks to expand the program to allow 
patients with a wider range of conditions access to full-strength 
medical marijuana.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom