For the past three and a half months, marijuana has essentially been decriminalized in Miami. After Florida legalized hemp July 1, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office announced it would no longer prosecute most minor marijuana charges because the substance is virtually indistinguishable from hemp.

Nevertheless, the City of Miami Beach has passed a municipal ordinance to discourage people from smoking weed in public. At a meeting last week, city commissioners unanimously voted to outlaw public smoking of marijuana and hemp.

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A law that took effect July 1 legalized hemp and CBD products containing traces of THC, the compound in marijuana that gets you high. But field tests and crime labs haven't caught up.

Texas hemp enterpreneur Zachary Miller, interviewed here by a television reporter, was arrested in Okaloosa County after products found in his car tested positive for THC. THC is illegal in Florida unless prescribed by a doctor for medical use but trace amounts are allowed in now-legal hemp products. [Courtesy of Zachary Miller]

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Several Florida cities that temporarily banned pot dispensaries now keep them out permanently.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Nearly two years after Florida voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana, some cities' temporary stops to cannabis businesses have turned into outright bans.

Temporary bans in Boca Raton, Coral Springs, Margate, Tamarac and Pembroke Pines have become permanent, effectively keeping dispensaries out of certain communities and drawing concerns from medical marijuana's proponents. They join at least seven other South Florida cities with bans.

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More than 80 state legislative or statewide campaigns and campaign committees have accepted some $800,000 from the medical marijuana industry during the 2018 election cycle, according to a review of campaign finance records by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

That could mean the closure of accounts and a scramble to find a place to deposit campaign funds. Wells Fargo decided to close the campaign account of Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidate Nikki Fried after she accepted industry money. She then opened an account with BB&T, which also promptly closed it. She now banks with Florida Community Bank.

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SARASOTA -- Several panelists made their cases in a Thursday forum for why marijuana should no longer be classified by the federal government as a Schedule 1 drug as dangerous as heroin.

The program focused on the Herald-Tribune project "Warriors Rise Up," which found a gaping rift between what many combat veterans want to treat their post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries and what they can legally get.

Rather than a cocktail of painkillers, many veterans prefer the relief they receive from marijuana. Because of marijuana's Schedule 1 designation under federal law, however, the VA has not considered it an option -- even in states that have legalized the drug for medical use.

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A decade after first appearing in the United States, fake weed is seen as a growing health danger.

Some marijuana smokers turned to it because it is relatively cheap and not detected in routine drug testing. Dozens of people in New Haven, Conn., went to the hospital this week after overdosing on a batch of synthetic marijuana.

A look at the issue:

While states have moved to legalize traditional marijuana, fake pot has become a public health threat. Synthetic marijuana is a mind-altering drug made by taking plant material and spraying it with chemicals that can mimic the high from marijuana. It is sold under names like K2, AK47, Spice, Kush, Kronic, and Scooby Snax.

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A budding medical marijuana industry has slowly been gaining acceptance in Central Florida as lawmakers consider regulations and the number of approved dispensaries grow.

But as medicinal solutions land most of the support, advocates say it's only a matter of time before full legalization lands on the table.

At the Orlando Marijuana Expo, a workshop and advocacy event Saturday at UCF, attorney Carrie McClain said the piecemeal approach to legalization would not be effective but has helped build some momentum.

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You can't take it with you. Actually, you can. But it's not a good idea when you're traveling, especially for the risk-averse.

We speak, of course, of cannabis; its use was approved by 57% of California voters in November 2016. Proposition 64, known as the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, allows the recreational use of marijuana in the Golden State; medical marijuana had been legal for about a decade before that.

Legal, it should be noted, in California. Not legal according to federal law, although President Trump has signaled his willingness to support legislation that, according to an L.A. Times article, would "end the federal ban on marijuana."

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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.

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A convicted Colombian drug cartel leader who went undercover to inform on Mexican kingpin "El Chapo" and other major traffickers has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.

The Miami Herald reports that 48-year-old Henry De Jesus Lopez Londono, who was arrested in Argentina and extradited to Miami in 2016, was sentenced on Monday for drug trafficking conspiracy.

U.S. District Judge Donald Graham previously rejected a plea deal that included 17 years behind bars. Lopez Londono could have received a life sentence.

Officials say Lopez Londono was involved in the smuggling of some 60,000 kilograms of cocaine between 2007 and 2012.

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Jeff Greene, the Palm Beach billionaire who this week joined a crowded slate of Democrats seeking to replace Gov. Rick Scott, shared his thoughts about marijuana with Truth or Dara during a lengthy interview that included some chit-chat about Willie Nelson and air pods.

(Spoiler alert: He's a fan of both the musician and the technology).

On medical marijuana, Greene's got the same take as his competitors, who've all come out in support of allowing patients to smoke their treatment.

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You could be in luck: Florida's Medical Marijuana Industry Is Beginning To Take Off

Medical marijuana dispensary hiring in Florida is beginning to germinate, as existing operators prepare to open new stores and other companies enter the market.

In South Florida, legal growers operate only a handful of dispensaries. But those dispensaries -- including Knox Medical, Curaleaf and Trulieve -- are laying the groundwork for new locations in the tricounty region and across the state. And California-based MedMen is getting ready to enter the market, which could heat up competition.

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A British pharmaceutical company is getting closer to a decision on whether the U.S government will approve the first prescription drug derived from the marijuana plant, but parents who for years have used cannabis to treat severe forms of epilepsy in their children are feeling more cautious than celebratory.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide by the end of the month whether to approve GW Pharmaceuticals' Epidiolex. It's a purified form of cannabidiol -- a component of cannabis that doesn't get users high -- to treat Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes in kids. Both forms of epilepsy are rare.

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SARASOTA COUNTY -- The county is moving to ban the cultivation and sale of recreational marijuana if the practice is ever legalized in Florida.

The County Commission last week unanimously voted to authorize its staff to draft an amendment to current county laws to prohibit the growing, processing and sale of recreational marijuana should it ever become legal in the state. Commission Chair Nancy Detert was absent for the vote.

The move comes several weeks after the commission approved the county's first two medical marijuana dispensaries. The commission on April 10 voted to allow Trulieve to open a medical marijuana dispensary in a freestanding building in the Venice Pines Shopping Plaza on Jacaranda Boulevard -- the county's first approved dispensary. A day later, the board approved a request by Sarasota-based AltMed to open a medical marijuana dispensary at 5077 Fruitville Road in the Cobia Bay shopping plaza.

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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.

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Florida's 16-month-old medical marijuana business is growing fast, as dispensaries and growers rush to establish themselves. It's happening even as court battles over state regulations for the young industry rage on.

Florida's 16-month-old medical marijuana business is growing fast, as dispensaries and growers rush to establish themselves. It's happening even as court battles over state regulations for the young industry rage on.

Rosa Howard spent 30 minutes in line Tuesday at a Trulieve medical marijuana dispensary in Orlando, packed into a waiting room with mothers, babies and seniors as the distinct smell of cannabis hung in the air.

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By the time Ann Marie Owen turned to marijuana to treat her pain, she was struggling to walk and talk. She also hallucinated.

For four years, her doctor prescribed the 61-year-old a wide range of opioids for her transverse myelitis, a debilitating disease that caused pain, muscle weakness and paralysis.

The drugs not only failed to ease her symptoms, they hooked her.

When her home state of New York legalized marijuana for the treatment of select medical ailments, Owens decided it was time to swap pills for pot. But her doctors refused to help.

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Politicians may have changed their tune, but the public's feelings on marijuana seem set in stone - Sun Sentinel

Given that former House Speaker John Boehner is now working for a marijuana investment company and that threats by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to crack down on legal recreational marijuana were nixed by President Donald Trump, we asked readers whether any of them have changed their minds recently on marijuana legalization like some elected officials seem to have.

And the answer is no. No, you have not.

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Marijuana beer is the latest trend in South Florida's brewing industry, but the cannabis terpenes oil used in the brews needs to be tested and approved. Breweries in the area are planning to host 420-themed parties.

Marijuana beer is the latest trend in South Florida's brewing industry, but the cannabis terpenes oil used in the brews needs to be tested and approved. Breweries in the area are planning to host 420-themed parties.

Glorifying marijuana use is now a staple across pop culture, music and Hollywood, where getting high is celebrated with nary a mention of the public safety risks involved. But if you smoke, vape, or enjoy edibles and get behind the wheel of a car while impaired, not only are you breaking the law, you are putting your life and the lives of others on the road in great danger.

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Florida's medical-marijuana patient database has hit the 100,000 mark, according to a weekly update issued by the state Department of Health's Office of Medical Marijuana Use.

As of Friday, 100,576 Florida patients had registered with the office, an increase of more than 2,500 in the past week.

Only 75,208 of the registered patients have been issued ID cards allowing them to purchase the marijuana treatment, and nearly 3,000 more applications for the cards are being processed.

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