TALLAHASSEE -- Chiding a judge who sided with sick patients and saying plaintiffs likely won't win on the merits of the case, an appellate court on Tuesday refused to allow smokable medical marijuana while a legal fight continues to play out. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal came in a lawsuit initiated by Orlando trial attorney John Morgan and others who maintain that a Florida law barring patients from smoking their treatment runs afoul of a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. [continues 470 words]
Cathy Jordan credits pot with helping her defeat the odds in the battle against Lou Gehrig's disease she's waged for more than 30 years. And although she can now legally obtain the cannabis treatment she's relied on for decades, Jordan is prohibited from what she and her doctors swear is the best way for her to consume her medicine -- smoking joints. Jordan is among the plaintiffs challenging a state law that bans smoking pot as a route of administration for the hundreds of thousands of patients who are eligible for medical marijuana treatment in Florida. [continues 648 words]
TALLAHASSEE -- Seemingly learning from past mistakes, state health officials have issued an emergency rule outlining the application process for new medical-marijuana vendors seeking to receive licenses in two weeks. The new rule, published Wednesday and going into effect immediately, outsources the evaluation of the applications to "subject matter experts," requires "blind testing" of the applications, and includes a detailed application form --- all departures from the Department of Health's previous medical-marijuana regulations that spawned a series of legal and administrative challenges. [continues 974 words]
Caption Davie imposes temporary moratorium on medical marijuana centers Florida health officials have started the rules-making process that will expand those eligible to receive medical marijuana. The Department of Health on Tuesday published the proposed rules and announced that public hearings will be held in five cities Feb. 6-9. Patients with one of 10 medical conditions will be able to receive medical marijuana but it does not allow for more distributing organizations. There are currently seven licensed, with one more case under an administrative challenge. [continues 51 words]
Dispensaries Say Local Officials Wary of New Business. As pot shops start to sprout in Florida, cities are struggling with how - or whether - to regulate the state's new marijuana industry. This week, the state's first medical-marijuana dispensary, operated by Trulieve, opened its doors to customers in Tallahassee. Health officials Wednesday gave the go-ahead to a second group, Surterra, to start distributing its cannabis products. Both marijuana operators have permission to deliver products statewide, and Surterra plans to open a dispensary next month in Tampa. [continues 555 words]
TALLAHASSEE - A new law that protects five nurseries may have given more ammunition to "ganjapreneurs" seeking an entry into what could be one of the nation's largest medical-marijuana markets come this fall. The law was intended to inoculate from pending legal challenges the five growers, and their teams of consultants and investors, selected by Florida health officials in November to serve as medical marijuana dispensing organizations, responsible for growing, processing and distributing cannabis products to a limited population of patients. While the law did just that, it also gave at least one losing applicant new grounds for its existing complaint. [continues 231 words]
Bill Lets Terminal Patients Use Full-Strength Marijuana. TALLAHASSEE - Nearly two years after passing a law to allow limited types of medical marijuana, the Florida House on Thursday approved a more far-reaching plan that would let terminally ill patients have access to full-strength pot. The plan (HB 307 and HB 1313) also would revamp the 2014 law, which has been bogged down in legal challenges over the selection of nurseries to get potentially lucrative contracts. Many House members pointed during a debate Thursday to how medical marijuana could help suffering patients. [continues 434 words]
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Department of Health will hold another hearing to clear up confusion about a proposed medical-marijuana rule published after a marathon meeting earlier this month. The department's Office of Compassionate Use released the latest proposal after a hand-picked panel spent 25 hours over two days hashing out the plan during a workshop on Feb. 4 and 5. Health officials ordered the workshop after an administrative law judge tossed their previous attempt at a rule, finding fault with the agency's plan to use a lottery to select five licensees to get the state's new medical-marijuana industry off the ground. [continues 219 words]
TALLAHASSE - Florida marijuana dispensers could truck their product to patients, under a revised rule proposed by health regulators in advance of a workshop Friday about the state's legalization of a limited type of medical pot. Despite complaints by nursery owners, lobbyists and others at a rule-making workshop earlier this month, health officials aren't backing away from a lottery-based system to choose the recipients of the five licenses planned. The competition is drawing operators and investors from around the world. [continues 413 words]
Professionals Look to Cash in With Florida Posed to Legalize Marijuana Use for Seizures Tallahassee lobbyists and lawyers are hooking up with investors, nursery owners and a variety of other businesspeople with leafy green stars in their eyes in the quest to cash in on Florida's newest regulated industry. With Florida on the verge of becoming the first Southern state to legalize any form of marijuana, lobbyists from large and small firms are pitching their regulatory expertise and inside connections with an eye not only on nailing down new clients but possible ownership stakes in what, at least for now, may be a limited industry. [continues 351 words]
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - He's well-acquainted with Osama bin Laden. He's been on special assignment in Beirut and Kuwait, and he's heading up the charge to rid Florida seaports of drugs and thugs. He's even a "Jedi knight." Now Steve Lauer also emerges as the top candidate to become Florida's first security czar. "If you wanted someone to secure the state of Florida against a terrorist threat, you couldn't find a better person," said Lauer's former boss and mentor, state drug czar Jim McDonough. [continues 431 words]
