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Law Florida
- Thread starter His_Highness
- Start date
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Hard to believe that these assholes are still tilting at this windmill.
Why is it so difficult for lawmakers to accept that medical marijuana literally saves lives?
In fact, a study published in the British Medical Journal found “an increase from one to two dispensaries in a country is associated with an 17% reduction in opioid mortality rates.”
Despite overwhelming evidence in support of medical marijuana, Florida Legislature is in talks to cap THC levels in smokable medical cannabis. If passed, the move would make it more difficult for patients to get the dosage they need for medical efficacy.
Last week, Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase was spouting misinformation on Twitter, stating that legalizing marijuana would add to the state’s drug problem and “lead to more overdoses and deaths.”
It’s because of false statements like these and fear mongering that cannabis holds such a negative stigma. As such, medical marijuana users in Florida are facing an unjust threat to their access to medicine.
On February 16, the Professions and Public Health subcommittee of the Florida House met to have a briefing on the effects of high-potency marijuana. The briefing was led by Bertha Madras, PhD.
Similar to Sen. Chase, Madras is notorious for spreading misinformation about medical marijuana, citing outdated, flawed reports and exaggerating the so-called “risks” of legalizing recreational cannabis.
Statements from anti-cannabis advocate Madras reinforce the Florida Legislature’s goal of placing arbitrary limits on the THC content of smokable medical marijuana, capping the THC percentages at 10% for any flower sold in a Medical Marijuana Treatment Clinic (MMTC).
This would be a complete disservice to Florida residents who rely on medical marijuana for their healthcare, limiting access to potentially life-saving medication.
“The math is simple. With most of the flower at MMTCs in the 15-25% THC range, a cap at 10% THC would mean patients would have to spend between 50%-150% more for the same amount of medicine,” said Pollara.
This would be devastating for medical marijuana patients, especially those who can’t afford the price change. Many would risk potential safety and health hazards to purchase cannabis through the illicit market.
Thankfully, Florida For Care’s website makes this incredibly easy to do by providing this link which will guide you to finding your state house member.
Cannabis & Tech Today Creative Director and Florida resident Shane Brisson penned his concerns to Representative Linda Chaney, voicing his opposition to the THC caps as a constituent, a person involved with the cannabis industry, and a medical marijuana user himself.
“Does the legislature realize that if this happens, the black market will once again flourish? I, for one, will turn back to that black market if this ridiculousness is allowed passage. Having access to safe, tested medicine has been a plus for patients not only in Florida, but all over the country,” said Brisson.
Brisson also stressed the fact that this subcommittee hearing is simply wasting taxpayer money on a medical marijuana tax that is heavily rooted in greed.
If the legislature goes through with implementing a THC cap, this will send a loud and clear message to Florida residents that their representatives don’t care about their health.
Many medical marijuana patients use the plant not only for physical pain, but mental as well. Significant research has found it can significantly reduce anxiety and depression.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Florida is suffering from a mental-health epidemic, with some 666,000 adults living day to day with a mental illness such as bipolar disorder, severe depression, or schizophrenia.
Medical marijuana is nonaddictive and doesn’t come with a grocery list of side effects, contrary to many prescription medicines.
Making it harder for medical marijuana patients to receive their medicine will be taking not just a step, but a running leap, in the wrong direction.
Florida Legislators Trying to Cap THC in Smokable Medical Marijuana
Why is it so difficult for lawmakers to accept that medical marijuana literally saves lives?
In fact, a study published in the British Medical Journal found “an increase from one to two dispensaries in a country is associated with an 17% reduction in opioid mortality rates.”
Despite overwhelming evidence in support of medical marijuana, Florida Legislature is in talks to cap THC levels in smokable medical cannabis. If passed, the move would make it more difficult for patients to get the dosage they need for medical efficacy.
Last week, Virginia Sen. Amanda Chase was spouting misinformation on Twitter, stating that legalizing marijuana would add to the state’s drug problem and “lead to more overdoses and deaths.”
It’s because of false statements like these and fear mongering that cannabis holds such a negative stigma. As such, medical marijuana users in Florida are facing an unjust threat to their access to medicine.
On February 16, the Professions and Public Health subcommittee of the Florida House met to have a briefing on the effects of high-potency marijuana. The briefing was led by Bertha Madras, PhD.
Similar to Sen. Chase, Madras is notorious for spreading misinformation about medical marijuana, citing outdated, flawed reports and exaggerating the so-called “risks” of legalizing recreational cannabis.
Statements from anti-cannabis advocate Madras reinforce the Florida Legislature’s goal of placing arbitrary limits on the THC content of smokable medical marijuana, capping the THC percentages at 10% for any flower sold in a Medical Marijuana Treatment Clinic (MMTC).
This would be a complete disservice to Florida residents who rely on medical marijuana for their healthcare, limiting access to potentially life-saving medication.
What Would a THC Cap Mean for Patients?
Ben Pollara from Florida for Care says a cap on THC would equal a medical marijuana tax on patients. Consequently, patients will have to smoke more, pay more, and buy more medical marijuana to achieve the same effect.“The math is simple. With most of the flower at MMTCs in the 15-25% THC range, a cap at 10% THC would mean patients would have to spend between 50%-150% more for the same amount of medicine,” said Pollara.
This would be devastating for medical marijuana patients, especially those who can’t afford the price change. Many would risk potential safety and health hazards to purchase cannabis through the illicit market.
Speak Up! This is Not Okay
Florida For Care stresses that this is an urgent matter and Florida citizens need to fight this potential medical marijuana tax by reaching out and contacting their state representative.Thankfully, Florida For Care’s website makes this incredibly easy to do by providing this link which will guide you to finding your state house member.
Cannabis & Tech Today Creative Director and Florida resident Shane Brisson penned his concerns to Representative Linda Chaney, voicing his opposition to the THC caps as a constituent, a person involved with the cannabis industry, and a medical marijuana user himself.
“Does the legislature realize that if this happens, the black market will once again flourish? I, for one, will turn back to that black market if this ridiculousness is allowed passage. Having access to safe, tested medicine has been a plus for patients not only in Florida, but all over the country,” said Brisson.
Brisson also stressed the fact that this subcommittee hearing is simply wasting taxpayer money on a medical marijuana tax that is heavily rooted in greed.
If the legislature goes through with implementing a THC cap, this will send a loud and clear message to Florida residents that their representatives don’t care about their health.
Many medical marijuana patients use the plant not only for physical pain, but mental as well. Significant research has found it can significantly reduce anxiety and depression.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Florida is suffering from a mental-health epidemic, with some 666,000 adults living day to day with a mental illness such as bipolar disorder, severe depression, or schizophrenia.
Medical marijuana is nonaddictive and doesn’t come with a grocery list of side effects, contrary to many prescription medicines.
Making it harder for medical marijuana patients to receive their medicine will be taking not just a step, but a running leap, in the wrong direction.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
And the idiocy marches on. People in FL, you NEED to express yourself to your elected representatives...clearly express yourself.
Florida Legislature’s bid to lower the THC cap on medical marijuana advances
If Florida doesn’t make significant reforms to its medical marijuana program, it could have another opioid crisis on its hands, a Republican lawmaker argued in a House committee Tuesday.
Rep. Spencer Roach, R-Fort Myers, made this case while advocating for a bill he’s sponsoring that would limit the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in medical marijuana products offered to Florida patients.
“We do know that people, doctors and patients, are taking advantage of our medical program to do two things: get rich, and get high,” Roach told the House Professions and Public Health Subcommittee. “We have seen this play out here before in Florida, and we know how it ends. We don’t need a sequel.”
Opioids have killed tens of thousands of Floridians. Medical marijuana has killed zero. And when asked, Roach could provide no evidence of any adverse reactions to high-THC marijuana among Florida’s more than 500,000 medical cannabis patients.
Roach’s bill cleared the committee with every Republican voting in favor of it and every Democrat voting against it.
The measure will need the approval of at least two more committees — both of which are controlled by Republicans — before it heads to the House floor. The Senate version of Roach’s bill, SB 1958, has yet to be heard in a committee.
Proponents of the bill say even if patients aren’t overdosing on medical marijuana, high-potency versions of the drug come with consequences. They argue prolonged use of high-potency marijuana is associated with cases of psychosis. Cannabis that has high amounts of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana which primarily causes the drug’s euphoric effects — also has a negative effect on the developing brain, they argue. (The bill’s THC caps would not apply to terminal patients.)
And they say the system is currently being abused. Roach told the committee that just a few doctors were referring a disproportionate percentage of patients to dispensaries. To Roach, this constituted “echoes of the opioid crisis.”
Cannabis patients, many of their doctors and the state’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry are staunchly opposed to Roach’s bill. They argue the state is interfering with the doctor-patient relationship in the name of an ideologically driven hostility to cannabis.
“We’ve got some major problems here,” Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando said. “Reefer madness is the ideology that is prevailing in this legislation.”
The bill’s most controversial provision would limit the amount of THC in smokable cannabis products to just 10% of the plant by volume. Today, most smokable forms of medical cannabis contain a higher percentage of THC than that. All other forms of cannabis except edibles — concentrates and powders, for example — would be limited to 60% THC.
Roach’s bill would also allow the Florida Department of Health to test the marijuana grown at state cultivation facilities to ensure the plants comply with the potency limits. Industry advocates say that’s an unreasonable regulatory obstacle because it’s difficult to ensure a given harvest has less than 10% THC.
Doctors worry that patients suffering from severe pain will inevitably turn to the illegal marijuana market if the state caps the potency of their medicine.
“Medical marijuana is already more expensive than street marijuana,” said Michelle Beasley, a physician from Pensacola who has 3,200 patients who use cannabis under the state’s program. “What do you think is going to happen?”
The state’s medical marijuana program was enacted after Floridians overwhelmingly voted in 2016 to allow medicinal use of the drug. Ever since then, the program has had opponents in the Republican-led Legislature. Former Speaker Jose Oliva of Miami Lakes, for example, was a proponent of the THC caps. A 2020 proposal that mandated a 10% cap for product sold to patients younger than 21 passed the House in 2020 before dying in the Senate.
But prominent Democrats have campaigned — and even won — on expanding access to cannabis. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, urged lawmakers in a tweet Tuesday to vote down Roach’s bill.
“Medical marijuana is medicine,” Fried said. “It’s improved lives, Floridians voted for it, and Americans support it.
Florida Legislature’s bid to lower the THC cap on medical marijuana advances
If Florida doesn’t make significant reforms to its medical marijuana program, it could have another opioid crisis on its hands, a Republican lawmaker argued in a House committee Tuesday.
Rep. Spencer Roach, R-Fort Myers, made this case while advocating for a bill he’s sponsoring that would limit the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in medical marijuana products offered to Florida patients.
“We do know that people, doctors and patients, are taking advantage of our medical program to do two things: get rich, and get high,” Roach told the House Professions and Public Health Subcommittee. “We have seen this play out here before in Florida, and we know how it ends. We don’t need a sequel.”
Opioids have killed tens of thousands of Floridians. Medical marijuana has killed zero. And when asked, Roach could provide no evidence of any adverse reactions to high-THC marijuana among Florida’s more than 500,000 medical cannabis patients.
Roach’s bill cleared the committee with every Republican voting in favor of it and every Democrat voting against it.
The measure will need the approval of at least two more committees — both of which are controlled by Republicans — before it heads to the House floor. The Senate version of Roach’s bill, SB 1958, has yet to be heard in a committee.
Proponents of the bill say even if patients aren’t overdosing on medical marijuana, high-potency versions of the drug come with consequences. They argue prolonged use of high-potency marijuana is associated with cases of psychosis. Cannabis that has high amounts of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana which primarily causes the drug’s euphoric effects — also has a negative effect on the developing brain, they argue. (The bill’s THC caps would not apply to terminal patients.)
And they say the system is currently being abused. Roach told the committee that just a few doctors were referring a disproportionate percentage of patients to dispensaries. To Roach, this constituted “echoes of the opioid crisis.”
Cannabis patients, many of their doctors and the state’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry are staunchly opposed to Roach’s bill. They argue the state is interfering with the doctor-patient relationship in the name of an ideologically driven hostility to cannabis.
“We’ve got some major problems here,” Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando said. “Reefer madness is the ideology that is prevailing in this legislation.”
Politics & Policy in the Sunshine State
The bill’s most controversial provision would limit the amount of THC in smokable cannabis products to just 10% of the plant by volume. Today, most smokable forms of medical cannabis contain a higher percentage of THC than that. All other forms of cannabis except edibles — concentrates and powders, for example — would be limited to 60% THC.
Roach’s bill would also allow the Florida Department of Health to test the marijuana grown at state cultivation facilities to ensure the plants comply with the potency limits. Industry advocates say that’s an unreasonable regulatory obstacle because it’s difficult to ensure a given harvest has less than 10% THC.
Doctors worry that patients suffering from severe pain will inevitably turn to the illegal marijuana market if the state caps the potency of their medicine.
“Medical marijuana is already more expensive than street marijuana,” said Michelle Beasley, a physician from Pensacola who has 3,200 patients who use cannabis under the state’s program. “What do you think is going to happen?”
The state’s medical marijuana program was enacted after Floridians overwhelmingly voted in 2016 to allow medicinal use of the drug. Ever since then, the program has had opponents in the Republican-led Legislature. Former Speaker Jose Oliva of Miami Lakes, for example, was a proponent of the THC caps. A 2020 proposal that mandated a 10% cap for product sold to patients younger than 21 passed the House in 2020 before dying in the Senate.
But prominent Democrats have campaigned — and even won — on expanding access to cannabis. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only statewide elected Democrat, urged lawmakers in a tweet Tuesday to vote down Roach’s bill.
“Medical marijuana is medicine,” Fried said. “It’s improved lives, Floridians voted for it, and Americans support it.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
"each center owns a vertically-integrated license that allows and requires them to grow, process, dispense, and deliver medical marijuana. Also, five laboratories are licensed to perform third-party testing of medical marijuana.
In Florida, the medical marijuana license allows the current MMTCs to build out as big of a footprint as possible in preparation for adult use (recreational) legalization. This regulatory framework is unique from most other states"
I do not like this licensing model and personally believe it was a complete and utter sell out to Big Corporate MJ.Florida's Marijuana Market Is About to Explode
Florida's marijuana market consists of 22 Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs). Each center owns a vertically-integrated license that allows and requires them to grow, process, dispense, and deliver medical marijuana. Also, five laboratories are licensed to perform third-party testing of medical marijuana.
In Florida, the medical marijuana license allows the current MMTCs to build out as big of a footprint as possible in preparation for adult use (recreational) legalization. This regulatory framework is unique from most other states, which provide specialized licenses and have a cap on the production of marijuana per license-holder.
Florida's market potential
The Total Available Market, or TAM, is one of the most critical factors for any industry. Due to marijuana being federally illegal, marijuana companies cannot ship marijuana across state lines. Thus, in the marijuana industry, the TAM is limited to the company's state. Florida's marijuana industry happens to have one of the strongest TAMs in the world.
As of December of 2020, Florida has more than 450,000 qualified patients, consistently increasing by almost 3,000 patients per week. Patient growth has made Florida the largest medical-marijuana market in the country by sales. More importantly, Florida has a population of more than 20 million and a tourist population of almost 150 million, which means it is positioned to be one of the largest marijuana markets in the world once adult-use regulations go into effect. Currently, there are almost 300 retail locations, with an expected 500 locations by the end of 2022, which will make Florida one of the most dominant markets in the world.
A full arsenal of products
In mid-2019, Senate Bill 182 became effective and allowed for the possession, use, or administration of smokable marijuana flower in Florida. In 2020, Florida established rules for the production of edibles. Demand for marijuana edibles is growing across the country due to the rise in product offerings, a smoke-free method of consumption, and a more sanitary consumption method when compared to smoking dried flower in a joint or bowl.Now that the Florida market has smokable flower and edibles, the current MMTCs and labs have a whole arsenal of products to license, develop, formulate, produce and sell. Due to the size of the medical marijuana market and the growing demand for edibles nationwide, marijuana edibles sales are projected to reach $250 million in Florida in the year 2021. These numbers will exponentially grow when Florida approves adult-use, allowing the current MMTCs and labs to tap into the full total market available of the adult-use market.
What's next for Florida?
In 2020, Regulate Florida and Make it Legal Florida fell short of obtaining sufficient signatures to get their ballot initiatives. This was due to a late start and a lack of funding. However, there is potential that these initiatives will make it to the ballot in 2022.When a state passes adult-use, it generally opens up the first round of licensing to current medical marijuana license-holders. So, the current MMTCs and labs, which will already have a massive footprint based on the current regulations, will be able to quickly shift from serving a limited TAM of qualified patients to a vast TAM of the entire Florida population, including tourists. This will be a massive windfall for the current MMTCs and labs and may cause revenues, profits, and valuations to sour.
The outcome of the highly anticipated Florida Supreme Court case, Florigrown, LLC v. Florida Department of Health, may result in more licenses eventually being issued. However, the process of issuing any license will likely take quite some time. Additionally, depending on the Supreme Court's decision, the future licenses may come with much different rights than the vertically integrated license owned by the 22 Licensees. As a result, the 22 Licensees are in a great position to build multi-billion-dollar companies in Florida's growing marijuana industry regardless of the decision in Florigrown. The future of the Sunshine State is looking bright after all!
arb
Semi shaved ape
Florida is and always will be a sell out to any corporate interest.
I don't miss that shithole a bit.
Florida Supreme Court Kills 2022 Marijuana Legalization Initiative That Hundreds Of Thousands Had Signed
The Florida Supreme Court has dealt a critical blow to marijuana activists working to legalize marijuana in the state—killing an initiative that hundreds of thousands of voters have already signed and forcing them to start all over again if they want to make the 2022 ballot.
In a 5-2 ruling on Thursday, the court determined that the Make It Legal Florida reform initiative is unconstitutional, arguing that the ballot summary is “affirmatively misleading” because it says adult-use cannabis would be made lawful in the state without explicitly acknowledging that it would remain illegal under federal law.
This means advocates would have to start over—from drafting the measure to collecting signatures—if they hope to make next year’s ballot.
The group had already collected 556,049 valid signatures for the now-invalidated constitutional measure. They needed 891,589 to place the initiative before voters. Then at least 60 percent of voters would’ve had to approve it on the ballot for it to pass.
The court took up a legal review of the initiative at the request of state Attorney General Ashley Moody’s (R) office, which then submitted a brief in opposition to the legalization petition.
At issue, the majority justices said in their ruling, is the use of the word “permits” in the ballot summary when referring to activities such as possessing and purchasing marijuana by adults 21 and older. Because the initiative fails to acknowledge that such activity would not be permissible under federal law, they deemed the summary “misleading” and therefore unconstitutional.
“The summary’s unqualified use of the word “[p]ermits” strongly suggests that the conduct to be authorized by the amendment will be free of any criminal or civil penalty in Florida… The proposed amendment, on the other hand, explains that the conduct will only be free of criminal or civil liability “under Florida law.” The proposed amendment includes that language, of course, because a recreational marijuana user or distributor will remain exposed to potential prosecution under federal law—no small matter.”
But in a dissenting opinion, two justices argued that it’s essentially self-evident that the measure would only apply to Florida law and not change federal statute prohibiting marijuana.
In a sense, the justices said there’s precedent in place that makes it incumbent upon voters to do their research and understand the fundamental implications of their votes. And in this case, they said, the majority is effectively saying voters cannot be trusted to understand basic governance.
“Today’s decision underestimates Florida voters and adds hurdles to the citizen-initiative process that are not supported by the plain language of the governing law or our precedent,” the two justices wrote.
“Our review similarly presumes that voters possess a rudimentary knowledge of their government’s structure and of the laws governing their conduct. Citizens are also presumed to know what constitutes a federal crime,” the dissenting opinion states. “Finally, it is one of the most fundamental and elementary principles of our constitutional republic that no state law—not even a state constitution—can override federal law.”
They also used an analogy to explain the “fallacy in the majority conclusion.”
“If, for example, you and I were instructed on a one-question final exam to summarize the predominant compounds present in the earth’s atmosphere and answered that the earth’s atmosphere is predominantly comprised of nitrogen (approximately 78%) and oxygen (approximately 21%), our summary should be viewed as correct because the rest of the gases combined account for only about 1% of the earth’s atmosphere,” they wrote.
“We would be quite upset, and rightfully so, if we were told by our professor that we had failed the exam because our answer was misleading in that it did not explain that the sun’s atmosphere is different,” they said. “Our justifiable confusion would be even more profound if the test instructions had plainly stated that our summary need not list predominant compounds in the sun’s atmosphere and need not explain differences between the earth’s atmosphere and the sun’s.”
It’s possible that this decision in the Make It Legal Florida case could have been avoided if they’d taken precautionary steps in the ballot summary as a campaign that placed medical cannabis legalization on the ballot did for 2016. The court reviewed that language as well, but they did not overturn it because the measure include explicit language about how the policy does not protect patients from federal repercussions.
Marijuana Moment reached out to Make It Legal Florida, but representatives were not immediately available.
The campaign had intended to get legalization on the ballot in 2020, but activists announced early that year that they were shifting focus to 2022 due to restrictive signature gathering requirements.
If the measure hadn’t been killed by the court and ultimately qualified and was approved by voters, it would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess, use, transport and purchase up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis. Existing medical cannabis dispensaries would have been able to sell recreational marijuana.
Recent polling shows that a majority of Florida voters (59 percent) support legalizing cannabis for adult use. That said, the constitutional amendment that the court rejected would have required 60 percent voter approval to be enacted, meaning activists still would have had their work cut out for them to ensure victory—especially in a midterm election in which turnout dynamics are typically not as favorable to cannabis reform as in presidential years.
Read the Florida Supreme Court ruling on the marijuana legalization initiative by following title link and scrolling to the bottom of the article.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Yeah, and its against the law in the United Federation of Planets....so, did they need to list that too? insert rueful sigh
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Well, ya' know...its really NOT the sovereign state of Miami and DeSantis needs to kick some urban, crime ridden, traffic clogged ass....all IMO of course. haha
Two companies fighting to open medical marijuana dispensaries downtown have sued the city of Miami, challenging the city’s stance that federal law trumps the Florida Constitution.
Miami’s city government has rejected cannabis dispensaries since Florida voters approved the creation of a full-fledged medical marijuana marketplace in a 2016 referendum that amended the state Constitution. Instead of creating zoning restrictions to regulate where dispensaries can open, or outright banning them, Miami has created no new laws and relied on an internal legal opinion that the change to the Florida Constitution was moot because federal law continues to categorize marijuana as an illegal substance with no medicinal value.
By contrast, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and other local governments approved zoning regulations that dictate where dispensaries can go, even if they did so begrudgingly.
Dispensaries are storefronts where card-carrying patients certified by the state to treat medical conditions with cannabis can purchase products. There are more than 270 dispensaries in the state of Florida, according to the website FLDispensaries.com.
The city’s resistance to medical cannabis has caused problems for company MRC44, which has sought city approvals since 2019 to open a dispensary at 90 NE 11th St. The city initially denied the company a certificate of use, citing the city attorney’s opinion. Miami’s zoning board recently sided with the company in an appeal, leading city administrators to challenge the board’s decision before the Miami City Commission.
Commissioners were expected to settle the matter Thursday. But before they could weigh in, MRC44 and another company seeking to open a dispensary filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday. The companies claim they have the right to open dispensaries in any location in Miami without municipal permits because the city has no medical marijuana ordinance. The second firm owns property at 60 Northeast 11th St., on the same block as the MRC44 location.
“We will address it in court,” City Attorney Victoria Méndez said Thursday.
Commissioners postponed the vote on MRC44’s issue due to the pending lawsuit, but they separately instructed Méndez to seek a declaratory action from a judge to settle the question of federal versus state law. It appears that both legal routes could yield rulings that could clarify the matter.
“I feel that there’s a discrepancy or a conflict between state and federal law, and I just want to ask a court of law to opine on that,” Méndez told commissioners.
Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla asked: “Have any of the 31 states that have passed either recreational or medicinal marijuana done the same thing?”
“I’m not sure if they have, but I cannot give you advice to open or allow marijuana dispensaries until we have a little more clarification,” Méndez responded. “That’s all.”
Miami’s outlier legal position on Florida’s marijuana marketplace led to an awkward moment a few months after the 2016 referendum. During a Planning Zoning and Appeals Board meeting in May 2017, Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min used what he couched as a “poor example” to illustrate the city’s stance.
“If the city of Miami for some infinite, God-forbidden reason thought having sex with a child was a great way to recover from some issue and so we wrote that into our city code, just because the city says that’s legal doesn’t mean it’s legal,” Min said.
Some Miami-Dade cities, including Miami Beach, have faced lawsuits over their rules regulating dispensaries. But the industry has largely stayed away from the city of Miami, said Akerman attorney Ian Bacheikov, who represents medical cannabis companies on land use issues.
“State statute says you’d have to treat [marijuana dispensaries] the same way you treat a pharmacy,” Bacheikov said. “They’re simply saying dispensaries are something else and they are not permitted.”
Commissioner Ken Russell supports medical cannabis and had previously suggested he might sponsor an ordinance, but he hesitated for fear his colleagues might oppose it and end up passing a ban. On Thursday, he supported getting the courts to clear things up.
“This case, and the pending request for a federal judge to interpret the conflict between state and federal law, should signal to our federal legislators and the president that it’s time to update federal law to keep up with the will of the states, cities and the majority of their voters,” Russell said.
Thursday’s discussion coincided with a significant decision by the Florida Supreme Court derailing an effort to legalize recreational marijuana. In a 5-2 decision, justices ruled a ballot initiative by the group Make it Legal Florida was “misleading.”
Miami rejects medical cannabis dispensaries. A lawsuit could bring matter to a head
Two companies fighting to open medical marijuana dispensaries downtown have sued the city of Miami, challenging the city’s stance that federal law trumps the Florida Constitution.
Miami’s city government has rejected cannabis dispensaries since Florida voters approved the creation of a full-fledged medical marijuana marketplace in a 2016 referendum that amended the state Constitution. Instead of creating zoning restrictions to regulate where dispensaries can open, or outright banning them, Miami has created no new laws and relied on an internal legal opinion that the change to the Florida Constitution was moot because federal law continues to categorize marijuana as an illegal substance with no medicinal value.
By contrast, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and other local governments approved zoning regulations that dictate where dispensaries can go, even if they did so begrudgingly.
Dispensaries are storefronts where card-carrying patients certified by the state to treat medical conditions with cannabis can purchase products. There are more than 270 dispensaries in the state of Florida, according to the website FLDispensaries.com.
The city’s resistance to medical cannabis has caused problems for company MRC44, which has sought city approvals since 2019 to open a dispensary at 90 NE 11th St. The city initially denied the company a certificate of use, citing the city attorney’s opinion. Miami’s zoning board recently sided with the company in an appeal, leading city administrators to challenge the board’s decision before the Miami City Commission.
Commissioners were expected to settle the matter Thursday. But before they could weigh in, MRC44 and another company seeking to open a dispensary filed suit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday. The companies claim they have the right to open dispensaries in any location in Miami without municipal permits because the city has no medical marijuana ordinance. The second firm owns property at 60 Northeast 11th St., on the same block as the MRC44 location.
“We will address it in court,” City Attorney Victoria Méndez said Thursday.
Commissioners postponed the vote on MRC44’s issue due to the pending lawsuit, but they separately instructed Méndez to seek a declaratory action from a judge to settle the question of federal versus state law. It appears that both legal routes could yield rulings that could clarify the matter.
“I feel that there’s a discrepancy or a conflict between state and federal law, and I just want to ask a court of law to opine on that,” Méndez told commissioners.
Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla asked: “Have any of the 31 states that have passed either recreational or medicinal marijuana done the same thing?”
“I’m not sure if they have, but I cannot give you advice to open or allow marijuana dispensaries until we have a little more clarification,” Méndez responded. “That’s all.”
Miami’s outlier legal position on Florida’s marijuana marketplace led to an awkward moment a few months after the 2016 referendum. During a Planning Zoning and Appeals Board meeting in May 2017, Deputy City Attorney Barnaby Min used what he couched as a “poor example” to illustrate the city’s stance.
“If the city of Miami for some infinite, God-forbidden reason thought having sex with a child was a great way to recover from some issue and so we wrote that into our city code, just because the city says that’s legal doesn’t mean it’s legal,” Min said.
Some Miami-Dade cities, including Miami Beach, have faced lawsuits over their rules regulating dispensaries. But the industry has largely stayed away from the city of Miami, said Akerman attorney Ian Bacheikov, who represents medical cannabis companies on land use issues.
“State statute says you’d have to treat [marijuana dispensaries] the same way you treat a pharmacy,” Bacheikov said. “They’re simply saying dispensaries are something else and they are not permitted.”
Commissioner Ken Russell supports medical cannabis and had previously suggested he might sponsor an ordinance, but he hesitated for fear his colleagues might oppose it and end up passing a ban. On Thursday, he supported getting the courts to clear things up.
“This case, and the pending request for a federal judge to interpret the conflict between state and federal law, should signal to our federal legislators and the president that it’s time to update federal law to keep up with the will of the states, cities and the majority of their voters,” Russell said.
Thursday’s discussion coincided with a significant decision by the Florida Supreme Court derailing an effort to legalize recreational marijuana. In a 5-2 decision, justices ruled a ballot initiative by the group Make it Legal Florida was “misleading.”
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Medical marijuana industry has high anxiety waiting for Florida Supreme Court ruling
After the Florida Supreme Court hears arguments in a case, justices typically try to hand down a ruling within six months.
Although the court heard final arguments in Florida Department of Health v. Florigrown nearly eight months ago, it has yet to render a judgment.
It’s difficult to overstate the stakes of the case. The court could decide to upend the state’s medical marijuana regulations, throwing a $1.2 billion industry with several national conglomerates into a state of uncertainty. Lawmakers and bureaucrats would have to rewrite the rules for the industry — potentially from scratch.For months, the people invested in one of Florida’s fastest growing industries have swapped nervous texts and phone calls every Thursday at 11 a.m. — when the Supreme Court publishes its opinions — bracing for a ruling that could make or break their companies.
“We look to see if it is, in fact, the day of reckoning,” said Taylor Biehl, a Tallahassee lobbyist and the co-founder of the Medical Marijuana Business Association of Florida.
Judges could uphold all or parts of the state’s current regulations, dealing a blow to smaller firms like Florigrown, a Tampa-based company that applied to become a medical marijuana treatment center in 2017. The company was turned down by the state because at the time, the Florida Department of Health had not yet made rules to regulate the industry.
During the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers passed legislation forming those rules. They created steep barriers to entry for new players in the state’s marijuana game. In order to get a license, a company had to be “vertically integrated” — shorthand for a rule that they “cultivate, process, transport, and dispense marijuana.” A great deal of investment and expertise is required from companies hoping to operate this way.
Florigrown sued the state, arguing those rules contradicted the 2016 medical marijuana ballot initiative overwhelmingly approved by voters. That initiative defined a medical marijuana treatment center as a business that “... transfers, transports, sells, distributes, dispenses, or administers marijuana.”
Billions of dollars could hinge on the one-word tweak from “and” to “or.”
“The direction of the industry is at stake,” said former Florida Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, who’s representing clients in the case who support Florigrown’s challenge to the existing rules.
A long-running saga
In total, the Florigrown case has dragged on for three-and-a-half years. It’s unclear how much money the state has spent defending its medical marijuana rules. The Florida Department of Health ignored weeks of requests for comment from the Herald/Times.Even businesses that can meet the vertical integration requirements have had to put their plans on hold because of the uncertainty around the case. Florida rules allow for the issuing of 17 medical marijuana treatment center licenses — plus four additional licenses for every 100,000 marijuana patients the state adds.
Currently, just 22 treatment centers are licensed even though the state has some 561,000 patients. The state should have about 15 more companies licensed to operate in the medical marijuana industry.
“A lot of the potential competition in the market has died off because of the delay,” Kottkamp said.
When asked why judges have taken so long to render a verdict, Craig Waters, a spokesman for the Florida Supreme Court, said he can’t comment on pending cases.
It’s not the first time this year the marijuana industry has been made to wait an inordinately long time for a Supreme Court decision. In April, the court all but killed a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana after 11 months of apparent deliberation.
Several possible reasons for the delay
There could be multiple reasons the court is taking so long to decide these cases. The coronavirus pandemic may have slowed the proceedings. Judicial politics are another possible explanation: It took months of wrangling before two of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ nominees — John Couriel and Jamie Grosshans — took the bench. One round of oral arguments for Florigrown was held in May 2020 without the two new justices. A second round was held in October 2020 with them.Then there’s the Florigrown case itself. Justices are being asked to rule on numerous legal questions: Do Florida’s medical marijuana regulations conform to the constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2016? Is the state allowed to cap the number of medical marijuana licenses it gives out?
Even if it addresses those thorny questions, the court must decide on a solution to any problems it finds with the current regulations. That could be a difficult process, Kottkamp said. It’s possible justices are divided over various technical aspects of the ruling, and the factions are lobbying one another to join a given side.
According to a Supreme Court document which lays out the way the court operates, “In rare cases, the Court fractures so badly that no single Justice is able to obtain the concurrence of three other Justices in a decision...release of any opinion thus may be delayed for long periods of time while members of the Court seek a compromise.”
Is that what is happening with this marijuana case? On any given Thursday, Florida may soon find out.
Florida Supreme Court Pulls the Plug on Recreational Cannabis Initiative
Cannabis advocates in Florida remain focused toward cannabis reform despite the Supreme Court’s recent decision.The Florida Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a proposed initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults is misleading and can not appear on next year’s ballot. The decision marks the second time in three months that Florida’s highest court has struck down proposed ballot measures to legalize cannabis in the state.
The proposed constitutional amendment initiative, titled “Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol to Establish Age, Licensing, and Other Restrictions,” was sponsored by the group Sensible Florida, which filed in 2016 to have the measure placed on the state ballot. If successful, the constitutional amendment would have legalized marijuana use and home cultivation for adults and established a regulated cannabis economy.
After the campaign collected enough signatures to qualify for a constitutional review, Florida Attorney General asked the state Supreme Court in September 2019 to determine if the ballot measure’s language was legal. The court heard oral arguments in the case in February 2020 but did not issue a ruling until Thursday, more than two years later.
A majority of the court consisting of Justices Charles Canady, Ricky Polston, Carlos Muñiz, John Courie,l and Jamie Grosshans ruled that the summary for the ballot measure was unconstitutionally misleading and can not appear on the 2022 ballot. The court based its decision on the inclusion of the phrase “limited use” in the 75-word ballot summary.
The initiative states that it would legalize cannabis “for limited use and growing by persons twenty-one years of age or older.” The court ruled that the summary’s language could cause a voter to erroneously assume that the initiative limits the amount of cannabis an individual can consume. However, no such language appears in the initiative.
“The Sponsor’s inability to point to anything in the text of the measure that could credibly support the ‘limited use’ language in the summary leaves no doubt that the summary is affirmatively misleading,” the justices wrote in the majority opinion.
Florida Supreme Court Decision Spurs Swift Reaction
After the court’s decision was released, Lauren Cassidy, a spokesperson for Moody, thanked the court in a statement.“Floridians must fully understand what they are voting on when they go to the ballot box,” Cassidy said.
Attorney Michael Minardi, a backer of the initiative, told local medial that he is disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision. He said that Sensible Florida will prepare a new draft of the initiative and still has hope that they can qualify the measure for the 2022 ballot.
“We have already rewritten some alternate versions,” Minardi said. “It’s really a welcome thing just to finally have the opinion.”
U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, who represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District and hopes to be the Democratic challenger to Gov. Ros DeSantis in next year’s election, criticized the court’s decision in a social media post.
“The Florida Supreme Court that @GovRonDeSantis packed with partisan judges just denied another ballot initiative to let Floridians vote on legalizing marijuana. This is wrong. Legalization should be up to the people of Florida,” Crist tweeted.
Court Nixed Separate Initiative In April
Thursday’s decision is the second time in three months that the Florida Supreme Court has struck down a proposed marijuana legalization measure from the group Make It Legal Florida. In April, the court ruled that a separate ballot proposal was misleading because the summary failed to inform voters that cannabis would still be illegal under federal law.“A constitutional amendment cannot unequivocally ‘permit’ or authorize conduct that is criminalized under federal law,” Canady wrote in that decision. “A ballot summary suggesting otherwise is affirmatively misleading.”
After the ballot measure was struck down, the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and another Democratic vying for the party’s nomination to challenge DeSantis, said that state lawmakers are failing their constituents.
“Florida voters have taken this into their own hands because the Florida Legislature failed to do right by the people in taking legislative action on legalization,” said Fried. “My advice is that they listen to the will of the people or they’ll be out of a job soon.”
Baron23
Well-Known Member
What a crock of horse shit. And it took them two years to come up with this crap. They are just looking for a way to thwart the electorate's ability to vote on this issue. Fuck those anti-democratic ass hats....all in my never humble opinion! haha
bulllee
Well-Known Member
NEWS BRIEF
Florida’s medical cannabis program still hasn’t issued an MMJ cultivation license to a Black farmer, even though lawmakers reserved a license for one when the MMJ legalization law was passed in 2017.
Lawmakers recently pressed the state health department about the issue, according to Jacksonville TV station WJXT.
State Sen. Darryl Rouson brought the MMJ regulatory agency before the Senate Agriculture Committee seeking an explanation for why the license hasn’t been issued when 22 others have.
The health department said a lawsuit challenging the state’s seed-to-sale tracking requirement for cannabis companies is causing the delay.
Three Florida cannabis companies control more than two-thirds of the market, with the top six accounting for nearly 90% of all sales.
So, even if a Black cultivator received a license tomorrow, it would be an uphill climb to compete with those established companies.
In 2018, the Florida Senate passed HB 6049, which removed the provision that a Black cultivator must be a member of the Florida chapter of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association to be eligible for the MMJ business license.
That was after the state Legislature mandated in 2017 that a new license be awarded to a member of the Pigford-versus-Glickman lawsuit after the federal government was found to have discriminated against Black farmers.
According to WJXT, Christopher Ferguson, director of Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use, said the agency anticipates moving forward with the Pigford licensing process in the coming weeks.
Florida yet to license Black medical cannabis cultivator
Published 4 hours agoFlorida’s medical cannabis program still hasn’t issued an MMJ cultivation license to a Black farmer, even though lawmakers reserved a license for one when the MMJ legalization law was passed in 2017.
Lawmakers recently pressed the state health department about the issue, according to Jacksonville TV station WJXT.
State Sen. Darryl Rouson brought the MMJ regulatory agency before the Senate Agriculture Committee seeking an explanation for why the license hasn’t been issued when 22 others have.
The health department said a lawsuit challenging the state’s seed-to-sale tracking requirement for cannabis companies is causing the delay.
Three Florida cannabis companies control more than two-thirds of the market, with the top six accounting for nearly 90% of all sales.
So, even if a Black cultivator received a license tomorrow, it would be an uphill climb to compete with those established companies.
In 2018, the Florida Senate passed HB 6049, which removed the provision that a Black cultivator must be a member of the Florida chapter of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association to be eligible for the MMJ business license.
That was after the state Legislature mandated in 2017 that a new license be awarded to a member of the Pigford-versus-Glickman lawsuit after the federal government was found to have discriminated against Black farmers.
According to WJXT, Christopher Ferguson, director of Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use, said the agency anticipates moving forward with the Pigford licensing process in the coming weeks.
Florida to Resume Online Purchasing of Cannabis Products
Florida is bringing back online sales of medical cannabis, something that will undoubtedly help boost the industry.A ruling handed down on Monday by an administrative law judge in Florida means that medical cannabis patients in the Sunshine State will soon be able to resume purchasing such products online.
The decision from Judge Suzanne Van Wyk comes after state regulators in Florida had brought an end to patients using online services such as Leafly, which contracted with medical cannabis providers in the state to help patients complete their orders digitally.
According to local television station CBS12, state officials said “the arrangements violated a state law banning operators from contracting for services ‘directly related to the cultivation, processing and dispensing’ of cannabis.”
Those third-party, online companies saw Florida-based medical marijuana operators sever ties after the state’s Department of Health admonished them and threatened a $500,000 fine if the practice persisted.
CBS12 reported that the Department of Health handed down a memo saying that “the services were prohibited under a 2017 law that set up a structure for the Florida cannabis industry,” and that the law “requires medical marijuana operators to control all aspects of the business from seed to sale — including cultivation, processing and dispensing of products — rather than allowing companies to handle individual components of the trade.”
But Leafly, the station reported, “argued that it is not engaging in activity related to the dispensing of cannabis products because the company does not accept payment for or distribute cannabis products to patients,” and the company “filed a petition asking an administrative law judge to find that the Florida Department of Health employed an ‘unadopted and invalid rule’ to conclude that the online services violated the law.”
According to the station, Leafly had contracted with 277 medical marijuana retailers in Florida.
Judge Van Wyk “didn’t go as far Monday as Leafly requested,” according to CBS12, “but she found that the ban on the use of the third-party sites amounted to an unadopted rule and ordered the state agency to ‘immediately discontinue reliance on its policy regarding online ordering of medical marijuana through third-party websites.’”
Online orders and curbside pickups have become commonplace for cannabis operators since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with policymakers in various states and cities relaxing restrictions in order to allow patients to acquire their products safely.
Last year, officials in Florida set forth emergency rules to allow physicians in the state to visit patients and issue prescriptions remotely, an option that was also extended to medical cannabis patients.
Voters in Florida passed a ballot measure in 2016 that legalized medical marijuana treatment, and the law has broadened its scope in the years that have followed.
Last year, the Florida Department of Health announced new rules that allowed medical cannabis patients to acquire edible products such as brownies and other candies.
In 2019, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed a bill allowing medical cannabis patients to receive the treatment in smokable form.
Efforts to legalized recreational pot use in Florida have yet to materialize—though there are clear signs of budding political support.
Democrats currently vying for the party’s gubernatorial nomination in Florida have even traded barbs recently over who is more determined to end pot prohibition.
Charlie Crist, a former governor in the state who is currently serving in Congress and vying to be governor again, said earlier this month that he will “legalize marijuana in the Sunshine State” if he were elected next year.
“This is the first part of the Crist contract with Florida,” said Crist, who previously served as a Republican governor before leaving the party.
That drew a strong response from Nikki Fried, the state’s agriculture commissioner who is also aiming to win the Democratic nomination for governor and was quick to note Crist’s previous enforcement of anti-pot laws.
“Imitation is flattery, but records are records,” Fried said on Twitter earlier this month. “People went to jail because Republicans like @CharlieCrist supported and enforced racist marijuana crime bills. Glad he’s changed his mind, but none of those people get those years back. Legalize marijuana.”
Baron23
Well-Known Member
"you’re referred to a what’s called a vertically integrated MMTC so that company is going to grow your product, distribute your product, and that’s also who you’re going to buy it from"
This ^^ is the biggest fault of the FL program and IMO shows that FL legislature was bought and paid for by big corp cannabis.
Florida's 2022 legislative session kicks off on Tuesday and this year lawmakers are working to pass a bipartisan medical marijuana bill.
Florida doesn’t have recreational marijuana and for its medical marijuana program, people have to have a valid medical reason and need to be able to get the marijuana prescribed.
“Then you’re referred to a what’s called a vertically integrated MMTC so that company is going to grow your product, distribute your product, and that’s also who you’re going to buy it from,” said Andrew Learned, District 59 Representative.
House Bill 679 would change Florida’s medical cannabis program, offering several technical clarifications.
“I think the first thing to understand about 679 is this is the first bipartisan marijuana package we’ve really run as a state in five years since the constitutional amendment passed. Just getting both sides to agree on a way forward, I count this as a win already,” said Learned.
“It’s about access. You know, it’s about making things more affordable for people. I think one of the problems that we’ve had is that some people just can’t afford the doctor’s appointments and the frequency,” said Dr. David Berger, Board Certified Pediatrician at Wholistic Pediatrics & Family Care.
“Ultimately it’s reducing the cost on the patient by about 60% or more,” said Learned.
House Bill 679 also regulates the use and sale of delta-8, a marijuana product with less THC.
“It’s still legal we’re just changing some definitions and making sure the product is safe and tested, and we’re also limiting them to the sale of over 21. Right now there’s no age limit so children can buy this stuff,” said Learned.
He said this legislation improves Florida’s medical marijuana program in a way that makes things safer and more practical.
“This does things like, again, like keeping harmful products out of the hands of children, it’s making sure that we clean up advertising statues so we aren’t inadvertently advertising medical marijuana products in general to minors. It’s improving the program from a practical use perspective like I said with telehealth but also things like DUI testing and creating testing councils for that. Making sure products are safe and that a hemp product for example, like a CBD really is a CBD. Right now there’s no testing requirement pre-sale,” said Learned.
Some advocates of this bill say the biggest improvement that could come from the legislation is allowing telehealth.
"Especially in the pediatric population where I have patients all over the state. People, kids with special needs who just can’t get in. We also had adults who’ve gone into hospice who just couldn’t get to the office anymore. This would really benefit a lot of people,” said Berger.
This ^^ is the biggest fault of the FL program and IMO shows that FL legislature was bought and paid for by big corp cannabis.
Florida lawmakers work to change medical marijuana program as 2022 legislative session begins
Florida's 2022 legislative session kicks off on Tuesday and this year lawmakers are working to pass a bipartisan medical marijuana bill.
Florida doesn’t have recreational marijuana and for its medical marijuana program, people have to have a valid medical reason and need to be able to get the marijuana prescribed.
“Then you’re referred to a what’s called a vertically integrated MMTC so that company is going to grow your product, distribute your product, and that’s also who you’re going to buy it from,” said Andrew Learned, District 59 Representative.
House Bill 679 would change Florida’s medical cannabis program, offering several technical clarifications.
“I think the first thing to understand about 679 is this is the first bipartisan marijuana package we’ve really run as a state in five years since the constitutional amendment passed. Just getting both sides to agree on a way forward, I count this as a win already,” said Learned.
“It’s about access. You know, it’s about making things more affordable for people. I think one of the problems that we’ve had is that some people just can’t afford the doctor’s appointments and the frequency,” said Dr. David Berger, Board Certified Pediatrician at Wholistic Pediatrics & Family Care.
“Ultimately it’s reducing the cost on the patient by about 60% or more,” said Learned.
House Bill 679 also regulates the use and sale of delta-8, a marijuana product with less THC.
“It’s still legal we’re just changing some definitions and making sure the product is safe and tested, and we’re also limiting them to the sale of over 21. Right now there’s no age limit so children can buy this stuff,” said Learned.
He said this legislation improves Florida’s medical marijuana program in a way that makes things safer and more practical.
“This does things like, again, like keeping harmful products out of the hands of children, it’s making sure that we clean up advertising statues so we aren’t inadvertently advertising medical marijuana products in general to minors. It’s improving the program from a practical use perspective like I said with telehealth but also things like DUI testing and creating testing councils for that. Making sure products are safe and that a hemp product for example, like a CBD really is a CBD. Right now there’s no testing requirement pre-sale,” said Learned.
Some advocates of this bill say the biggest improvement that could come from the legislation is allowing telehealth.
"Especially in the pediatric population where I have patients all over the state. People, kids with special needs who just can’t get in. We also had adults who’ve gone into hospice who just couldn’t get to the office anymore. This would really benefit a lot of people,” said Berger.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Uh...unlike the putrid smell of sulfur ladened water used on golf courses or that wafting smell of decay coming off of the swamps? There's plenty of smelly stuff in FL already. Wonder when he's going to declare war on the fishy smell by marinas and such?
Democrat Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who has publicly acknowledged her use of medical marijuana, is running to unseat DeSantis in 2022 and has incorporated marijuana legalization into her platform. Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2016 that legalized the drug's medicinal use.
"You can still go to jail for weed in Florida because Ron DeSantis doesn't like the way it smells!?!" Fried said in a tweet on Wednesday.
"Sounds like Dictator Karen wasn't having much fun at Yale and Harvard so he's taking it out on the rest of us."
As DeSantis gears up for the gubernatorial race, Democrats have filed at least 10 marijuana-related bills for the 2022 legislative session, Florida Politics reported.
Ron DeSantis hints at decriminalizing marijuana in Florida but opposes its recreational use due to its 'putrid' stench
Despite suggesting he is in favor of its decriminalization, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cited the "putrid" scent of cannabis as a reason he may remain opposed to fully legalizing its use in the state, Politico reported. "I think a lot of those other areas that have done it you know have ended up regretting it," DeSantis said Wednesday during a press conference in Tallahassee, according to Politico. "I could not believe the pungent odor that you would see in some of these places and I don't want to see that here. I want people to be able to breathe freely."Democrat Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who has publicly acknowledged her use of medical marijuana, is running to unseat DeSantis in 2022 and has incorporated marijuana legalization into her platform. Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2016 that legalized the drug's medicinal use.
"You can still go to jail for weed in Florida because Ron DeSantis doesn't like the way it smells!?!" Fried said in a tweet on Wednesday.
"Sounds like Dictator Karen wasn't having much fun at Yale and Harvard so he's taking it out on the rest of us."
As DeSantis gears up for the gubernatorial race, Democrats have filed at least 10 marijuana-related bills for the 2022 legislative session, Florida Politics reported.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Florida sets Medical Marijuana dosage, supply limits
TALLAHASSEE - Florida health officials have released a highly anticipated rule setting THC dosage amounts and supply limits on products doctors can order for medical-marijuana patients.
The emergency rule sets a 70-day total supply limit of 24,500 mg of THC for non-smokable marijuana and establishes dosage caps for different routes of administration such as edibles, inhalation and tinctures.The rule, which was sent to patients and doctors on Friday and went into effect Monday, also carries out a state law that imposed a 2.5-ounce limit on smokable marijuana purchases over a 35-day period. While the rule lays out limits for THC in non-smokable products, the limit for whole flower and other products that can be smoked are based on weight. They are not based on levels of THC, the euphoria-inducing component in marijuana.
And the emergency rule creates a process for doctors to seek an override for patients they believe need to exceed the limits. The rule does not identify a way for patients or doctors to appeal if the requests are denied.
The dosing and supply caps came nearly six years after Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment broadly legalizing medical marijuana and more than three years after the Legislature, at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis, authorized smokable marijuana.
In setting up the framework for the medical-marijuana program, lawmakers gave the Department of Health the power to use emergency rules to craft regulations. Emergency rules can be published without taking public input, as is required for non-emergency regulations. The use of the emergency rule is "kind of the burr in my bonnet" about the dosage and supply caps, Pensacola doctor Michelle Beasley told The News Service of Florida on Monday.
"Regardless of the numbers, what harm has there been, what is the rationalization that they need to use emergency rule power and exclude the comments of all the physicians and all the patients in the state to do this?" Beasley, who works for MMTC of Florida, said. The rule sets 70-day supply limits for different routes of administration and calculates the equivalent daily dose for the caps. Under the rule, patients’ daily THC doses are restricted to 60 mg for edibles; 350 mg for vaporization; 200 mg for capsules and tinctures; 190 mg for sublingual tinctures; 190 mg for suppositories; and 150 mg for topicals.
Just a fraction of the state’s nearly 800,000 medical marijuana patients would need overrides for the new limits, according to several people interviewed by the News Service on Monday.
But industry insiders predict the dosage limits and supply restrictions will make marijuana products more expensive for patients, who frequently seek out sales when making purchases. Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, patients must pay all costs for doctor visits and supplies.
"It’s basically making people shop at Publix when they could go to Sam’s Club and get the bulk discount," Beasley said, noting that many medical-marijuana patients in Florida are retired or on fixed incomes. "If they had done the normal rule process, where they had public comment from patients, from doctors, they would have had that (information)."
The dosage limits also could prevent patients who purchase products that don’t work well for them from being able to buy replacement products within the 70-day window.
Barry Gordon, a doctor with Compassionate Cannabis Clinic in Venice, blasted the procedure used for the regulation, as well as the rule itself.
"I think what this demonstrates is just the utter disregard that the DOH (Department of Health) has for not only the doctors who actively participate in the program with honor and integrity and diligence, trying to follow the rules of a very difficult process to navigate already, much less the patients who are disrespected," Gordon said. "But to send this out on a Friday afternoon with no discussion, with no workshops, with nothing, is just an unbelievable malfeasance. … Who does that?"
Patients can use instructional guides and calculators provided by the Office of Medical Marijuana Use to determine how much they have purchased, how much they can buy, and when their orders can be renewed.
Beasley called the process "unnecessarily burdensome" for patients, especially for older patients who may be experiencing cognitive declines. "I do this full time and I have a medical doctorate and it’s taxing for my brain," she said.
But John Lockwood, an attorney who represents several medical-marijuana operators, predicted that patients will adjust to the changes.
"I’m hopeful the patients will be able to quickly acclimate to the changes, given that the industry was not afforded the benefit of a public workshop prior to the rule adoption," he said Monday. Patients are facing the new limits shortly after the launch of a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana for Floridians 21 and older. Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana company, contributed $5 million in seed money to get the initiative aimed for the 2024 ballot rolling.
Beasley indicated state policymakers’ regulatory approach to cannabis could drum up support for the effort. "It just seems like there is this disconnect where some of the politicians - not all - feel as if building a good medical program leads to legalization faster," she told the News Service. "In my opinion, it’s the opposite. If you make the medical patients mad and limit their access to their medicine and make it expensive and harder to get, then they’re just going to say, ‘Screw this. I’m just going to sign the legalization petition so I don’t have to deal with jumping through these hoops.’"
Florida Advocates Say Hemp Restriction Bill Gives ‘Unfair’ Advantage To Medical Marijuana Companies
“The exact intent of this bill is to eliminate 189,000 jobs and 10,000 small businesses.”
By Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Hemp entrepreneurs from all parts of Florida have made the trek twice to Tallahassee this month to testify against a legislative proposal that they say poses an existential threat to their livelihoods.
At the same time, states around the country have been enacting regulations regarding intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids, and that’s become a conundrum for all sides of the hemp debate.
Florida’s hemp program went into effect in 2019, shortly after the passage of the 2018 farm bill, which made hemp production and distribution legal under federal law and allowed states to create hemp programs. The farm bill defined hemp as the cannabis plant with one key difference: hemp cannot contain more than 0.3 percent of THC, the compound in the plant associated with getting you high.
The most lucrative part of the hemp industry has involved the production of biomass that contains cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound believed to treat health conditions like anxiety, stress, anxiety and inflation.
But a new measure introduced in the Florida House this spring (HB 1475) would limit the amount of THC in hemp products to not exceed 5 milligrams per serving or 50 milligrams per package and prohibit those products to anyone under the age of 21. The Senate version calls for such products not to exceed 0.5 milligrams per serving, or just 2 milligrams per package.
Completely ineffective
Vendors and patients say those levels are far too low and would make hemp products like gummies, CBD pre-rolls and oils and tinctures completely ineffective.“I have lupus and tremors and it’s one of the reasons why I got into this business, so that I could make sure that the medicine that I received was the best and top quality,” says Shaina Ortiz, the CEO of Siesta G based in eastern Hillsborough County.
“I operate on about 1,000 milligrams a day of hemp-derivative products. All different spectrums of that hemp derived products. This bill essentially would knock out any form of hemp, CBD’s, HHC’s (hexahydrocannabinol), CBN (cannabinol). The whole entire plant.”
Matt Schwarmann, the vice president of Outpost Brands, a Daytona Beach hemp manufacturer with 142 employees, says the current packaging limits would eliminate “virtually every hemp product” on the market.
“Every vape and cartridge would all be eliminated, and when you have gummies of such small efficacy doses, less than 5 milligrams—that’s not enough for the majority of people who are using it strictly as therapeutic uses,” he says.
Their fears are not unfounded, says Nikki Fried, now chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
“The exact intent of this bill is to eliminate 189,000 jobs and 10,000 small businesses,” the former state Agriculture Commissioner told the Phoenix.
What about Delta-8?
Overall, the bill calls for hemp products to be illegal for anyone under 21 years of age; it requires packaging, labeling and testing requirements for hemp-based products; it requires that hemp products be sold in a container that is “not attractive to children” and is designed to minimize exposure to light and high temperatures; and puts limits on doses and on the packages.It’s that last provision which is raising serious concerns.
One of the main products that legislators want to regulate is what is known as Delta-8, which is legal and soared in popularity in 2020 at hemp and CBD stores around the country.
As mentioned earlier, hemp and marijuana come from the same species of plant, but hemp can’t contain more than 0.3 percent THC—the main psychoactive ingredient that provides the “high” when ingesting cannabis, per the 2018 U.S. farm bill. But Delta-8 also has psychoactive and intoxicating effects, says the FDA, though those who have consumed it say that it provides a lighter and more relaxed feeling and is ideal for those who don’t want to get high from medical cannabis.
Nevertheless more than twenty states have banned or restricted Delta-8 use in the past two years.
“Some will say that this bill will end the hemp industry,” Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson said. He was at a press conference in the Department of Agriculture’s office in the Capitol last week next to a display of photos of high-THC products that had been discovered in convenience stores by agriculture inspectors.
“Let me be clear—the current wild, wild west situation, selling anything to anybody, is going to end. We will close the loopholes in state law being exploited to sell euphoric recreational cannabis products without restrictions,” Simpson said.
The black market
Carlos Hermida is the owner and manager of Chillum Glass Gallery and Hemp Dispensary that’s based in the heart of Ybor City in Tampa.Like many of the hemp vendors who have made their way to the state capital in the past two weeks, he says he supports the restrictions to selling hemp products only to people 21 and older as well as packaging requirements in the bill. But he says that the limits on THC in hemp products will hurt patients, especially those who don’t desire to use medical cannabis or can’t afford to purchase their products, thus moving them to the black market.
Hermida says that his mother recently took half of a 12-milligram gummy to help her get through the process of chemotherapy treatments she’s enduring to treat her lymphoma diagnosis.
“It was the only thing that could get her to sleep at night and that is a small dose taken by a woman in her 70s just to help her sleep,” he recounts. “That would be outlawed by this bill.”
“I want to call this bill the ‘stay in your lane’ bill,” says Will Robinson, Jr., the bill sponsor in the House. He represents part of Manatee County. “You have medical marijuana in one lane and you have hemp in another lane. And the lanes have gotten mixed together and this bill simply realigns those lanes into two clear lanes.”
But Holly Bell, the state’s first (and only) director of cannabis who served in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) from 2019 to 2022, says that the 22 current medical marijuana companies that are licensed in the state have been allowed to drive in the hemp lane for years because they’ve always been able to offer hemp products, while the reverse isn’t true.
“Do they own hemp companies? Yes,” she says. “I helped and watched many of them start. So they’re driving in our lane, but we can’t get in theirs?”
Robinson and Lakeland Republican Colleen Burton, the sponsor of the Senate version of the bill (SB 1676), have both met up with hemp vendors since they introduced their legislation, and those conversations appear to have resulted in some tangible results.
Robinson moved this week to increase the amount of milligrams in the products to 5 milligrams per serving or 50 milligrams per package. (His initial House bill called for regulating the levels of THC in hemp products to less than 2 milligrams per package and less than .5 milligrams per dose.)
But it comes after Burton acknowledged at the bill’s first committee meeting in the Senate that she had yet to meet with anyone from the industry, which raised concerns from some in the hemp industry.
“This is an industry in the state of Florida where you have more than 100,000 jobs, more than $15 billion in economic activity, and lawmakers wrote a bill that would wipe the industry out without talking to one person in the industry? How do you write a bill that destroys 100,000 families, without talking to one person in the industry?” asks Matt Schwarmann, the vice president at the hemp manufacturer.
“It gives an unfair competitive industry advantage to the medical marijuana licensees,” adds Bell, who now works as the vice president of regulatory affairs for Flora Growth, an international cannabis company. She says that the current legislative proposal now moving through the process is similar to the regulations on hemp products that lobbyists with Curaleaf, one of the state’s biggest medical marijuana companies, were pressing on the Agriculture Department to advocate for two years ago. She was referencing House and Senate bills related to regulating hemp products.
Smoke and mirrors
Fried calls the emphasis on safety in the bill as “smoke and mirrors” and adds that if that was the main concern of lawmakers, they could change the age and packaging requirements and increase product testing.But the Legislature does seem determined to join up with the other states to regulate hemp and set per serving limits. (A bipartisan proposal to reform Delta-8 as part of a larger cannabis bill failed to advance in the 2022 legislative session). That’s been viewed as a reaction to the lack of the federal government’s oversight when it comes to THC products.
“Hemp was the big new thing in the previous farm bill,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a strong advocate for the 2018 federal legislation, said last month, according to The Hill. “So far, it’s not worked out like we had hoped. It’s had a lot of challenges related to the difficulty of getting guidance out of the Food and Drug Administration.”
As House Rep. Robinson noted this week, states have set their own hemp limits in recent years.
Connecticut’s edible hemp products are limited to 5 milligrams of THC per serving in 2021, according to that state’s website which is now what Robinson’s bill is calling for.
Louisiana says servings cannot exceed 8 milligram per serving, according to that state’s health department’s website. According to a 2021 report from Marijuana Venture, most states mandate a maximum size of 5-10 milligrams per serving size of THC and a per-package limit of 50-100 milligrams. But some states are much higher, in per-package limits, such as Illinois (500 milligrams) and Montana (800 milligrams.)
During the session, some hemp industry officials testified in committees saying that they claim that the legislation is being pushed by Trulieve, the Tallahassee-based medical marijuana company that possesses a quarter of the medical marijuana dispensaries in the state and is one of the largest cannabis companies in the country.
Nonsense, say Trulieve officials.
“Reports of Trulieve’s involvement in this bill are false,” said spokesman Steve Vancore. “We have taken no stance on it, are not engaged, or otherwise involved.”
The concerns from the public do seem to be registering.
At the House Agriculture, Conservation and Resiliency Subcommittee week this past Monday, Palm Beach House Republican Rick Roth said that he did not want to see the hemp industry go dark.
“I think there’s a dangerous precedent—it’s called a medical marijuana monopoly,” Roth said. “We don’t want that. We want the hemp industry to be able to provide good service to people. We do not want it all to go the black market.”
This story was first published by Florida Phoenix.
Baron23
Well-Known Member
Read these two statements and see if you can connect the dots.....sigh
"Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted."
"Smart & Safe Florida, which filed the legal cannabis measure last summer, is being funded almost entirely by the state’s largest medical cannabis operator Trulieve, which provided initial seed money to get the campaign off the ground and has now contributed at least $25 million to the effort.
Based on monthly signature data reported by the Florida Division of Elections, which updates petition counts on the measure at the end of each month, it seems that the legalization campaign is well positioned to reach the 891,523 signature mandate by the end of this month.
At the end of January, the measure cleared an initial major hurdle, getting enough signatures to initiate a state Supreme Court review of the measure’s language. That analysis is still pending.
By the end of February the campaign had crossed the symbolic threshold of 420,000 signatures. That rose to 635,961 valid signatures as of March.
The Florida Supreme Court will be looking to make sure that the text of the proposal doesn’t violate the state Constitution’s single subject rule and isn’t affirmatively misleading to voters. If the court determines that the initiative meets those standards, the campaign will just need to turn in enough signatures to qualify for ballot placement—which it is very close to doing at this point.
Past attempts to place adult-use legalization on the Florida ballot have been challenged and rejected by the court.
Smart & Safe Florida, which filed the legal cannabis measure last summer, is being funded almost entirely by the state’s largest medical cannabis operator Trulieve, which provided initial seed money to get the campaign off the ground and has now contributed at least $25 million to the effort.
If approved, the measure would change the state Constitution to allow existing medical cannabis companies in the state like Trulieve to begin selling marijuana to all adults over 21. It contains a provision that would allow—but not require—lawmakers to take steps toward the approval of additional businesses. Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted.
Under the proposal, adults 21 and older would be able to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be marijuana concentrate products. The three-page measure also omits equity provisions favored by advocates such as expungements or other relief for people with prior cannabis convictions.
A poll published in March found that 70 percent of Florida voters back the idea of passing a constitutional amendment to enact legalization.
While Florida voters approved a medical cannabis constitutional amendment in 2016, subsequent attempts to place broader legalization on the ballot have been rejected by the state Supreme Court, which has ruled that the language of proposed measures by Make It Legal Florida and Sensible Florida were misleading, invalidating them.
Here’s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:
Adults 21 and older could purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis for personal use. The cap for marijuana concentrates would be five grams.
Medical cannabis dispensaries could “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute marijuana products and marijuana accessories to adults for personal use.”
The legislature would be authorized—but not required—to approve additional entities that are not currently licensed cannabis dispensaries.
The initiative specifies that nothing in the proposal prevents the legislature from “enacting laws that are consistent with this amendment.”
The amendment further clarifies that nothing about the proposal “changes federal law,” which seems to be an effort to avoid past legal challenges about misleading ballot language.
There are no provisions for home cultivation, expungement of prior records or social equity.
The measure would take effect six months following approval by voters.
Here’s the full text of the ballot title and summary:
“Allows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise; allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, and other state licensed entities, to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories. Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. Establishes possession limits for personal use. Allows consistent legislation. Defines terms. Provides effective date.”
Should the cannabis reform measure make the 2024 ballot, at least 60 percent of Florida voters would have to approve it for it to be enacted.
An earlier poll released in 2021 found that a majority of Florida voters (59 percent) support legalizing cannabis for adult use, so that’s a slim margin that shows that advocates will have their work cut out for them if the measure qualifies.
Meanwhile, activists that aren’t directly involved in the Smart & Safe Florida campaign said last year that they were exploring plans to have voters decide on what they hope will be a complementary measure permitting adults to grow their own cannabis at home.
"Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted."
"Smart & Safe Florida, which filed the legal cannabis measure last summer, is being funded almost entirely by the state’s largest medical cannabis operator Trulieve, which provided initial seed money to get the campaign off the ground and has now contributed at least $25 million to the effort.
Florida Marijuana Activists Close In On Signature Requirement To Put Legalization On 2024 Ballot
Florida marijuana advocates have collected 841,130 signatures for a marijuana legalization ballot initiative as of the end of April—about 94 percent of what’s required to put the issue before voters next year.Based on monthly signature data reported by the Florida Division of Elections, which updates petition counts on the measure at the end of each month, it seems that the legalization campaign is well positioned to reach the 891,523 signature mandate by the end of this month.
At the end of January, the measure cleared an initial major hurdle, getting enough signatures to initiate a state Supreme Court review of the measure’s language. That analysis is still pending.
By the end of February the campaign had crossed the symbolic threshold of 420,000 signatures. That rose to 635,961 valid signatures as of March.
The Florida Supreme Court will be looking to make sure that the text of the proposal doesn’t violate the state Constitution’s single subject rule and isn’t affirmatively misleading to voters. If the court determines that the initiative meets those standards, the campaign will just need to turn in enough signatures to qualify for ballot placement—which it is very close to doing at this point.
Past attempts to place adult-use legalization on the Florida ballot have been challenged and rejected by the court.
Smart & Safe Florida, which filed the legal cannabis measure last summer, is being funded almost entirely by the state’s largest medical cannabis operator Trulieve, which provided initial seed money to get the campaign off the ground and has now contributed at least $25 million to the effort.
If approved, the measure would change the state Constitution to allow existing medical cannabis companies in the state like Trulieve to begin selling marijuana to all adults over 21. It contains a provision that would allow—but not require—lawmakers to take steps toward the approval of additional businesses. Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted.
Under the proposal, adults 21 and older would be able to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be marijuana concentrate products. The three-page measure also omits equity provisions favored by advocates such as expungements or other relief for people with prior cannabis convictions.
A poll published in March found that 70 percent of Florida voters back the idea of passing a constitutional amendment to enact legalization.
While Florida voters approved a medical cannabis constitutional amendment in 2016, subsequent attempts to place broader legalization on the ballot have been rejected by the state Supreme Court, which has ruled that the language of proposed measures by Make It Legal Florida and Sensible Florida were misleading, invalidating them.
Here’s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:
Adults 21 and older could purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis for personal use. The cap for marijuana concentrates would be five grams.
Medical cannabis dispensaries could “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute marijuana products and marijuana accessories to adults for personal use.”
The legislature would be authorized—but not required—to approve additional entities that are not currently licensed cannabis dispensaries.
The initiative specifies that nothing in the proposal prevents the legislature from “enacting laws that are consistent with this amendment.”
The amendment further clarifies that nothing about the proposal “changes federal law,” which seems to be an effort to avoid past legal challenges about misleading ballot language.
There are no provisions for home cultivation, expungement of prior records or social equity.
The measure would take effect six months following approval by voters.
Here’s the full text of the ballot title and summary:
“Allows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise; allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, and other state licensed entities, to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories. Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. Establishes possession limits for personal use. Allows consistent legislation. Defines terms. Provides effective date.”
Should the cannabis reform measure make the 2024 ballot, at least 60 percent of Florida voters would have to approve it for it to be enacted.
An earlier poll released in 2021 found that a majority of Florida voters (59 percent) support legalizing cannabis for adult use, so that’s a slim margin that shows that advocates will have their work cut out for them if the measure qualifies.
Meanwhile, activists that aren’t directly involved in the Smart & Safe Florida campaign said last year that they were exploring plans to have voters decide on what they hope will be a complementary measure permitting adults to grow their own cannabis at home.
CarolKing
Always in search of the perfect vaporizer
Florida Marijuana Campaign Collected Enough Signatures To Qualify Legalization Initiative For 2024 Ballot, Trulieve Says
Florida marijuana reform advocates have collected enough raw signatures to qualify a legalization initiative for the state’s 2024 ballot, the campaign’s top financial supporter announced on Wednesday. The cannabis company Trulieve, which is financially backing the Smart & Safe Florida campaign...
www.marijuanamoment.net
Florida marijuana reform advocates have collected enough raw signatures to qualify a legalization initiative for the state’s 2024 ballot, the campaign’s top financial supporter announced on Wednesday.
The cannabis company Trulieve, which is financially backing the Smart & Safe Florida campaign, announced that advocates have “gathered sufficient raw signatures for inclusion on the November 2024 ballot.”
Baron23
Well-Known Member
"A poll published in March found that 70 percent of Florida voters support legalizing marijuana."
"Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) had submitted an opinion contesting the reform measure based on a single subject challenge, as she’s done with earlier legalization bids."
Which leads me very quickly to this thought to FL voters:
The Florida Supreme Court is taking first steps to consider a legal challenge from the state attorney general, who is seeking to invalidate a marijuana legalization initiative that an industry-funded campaign is seeking to place on the 2024 ballot.
In a notice posted last week, the court acknowledged that Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) had submitted an opinion contesting the reform measure based on a single subject challenge, as she’s done with earlier legalization bids.
Before the Supreme Court makes a decision in the case, it said that initial briefings on the matter are due by June 12. Subsequent reply briefs will then be required to be submitted by July 5 and 12.
The attorney general’s initial filing on the initiative was submitted about a week after the Smart & Safe Florida campaign said that they’ve collected enough raw signatures to qualify for for 2024 ballot placement.
Moody claimed that the initiative violates the state Constitution’s single subject rule, which requires ballot proposals to be narrowly focused on an individual issue. She made the same argument against a 2022 legalization measure, and the Supreme Court subsequently invalidated it.
The Supreme Court is always required to review ballot petitions after they exceed a certain signature threshold, which the Smart & Safe Florida campaign achieved in January.
Despite Moody’s opinion, activists say that they’ve thoroughly vetted the measure and are confident the court will agree that it complies with constitutional requirements.
The cannabis company Trulieve, which is financially backing the Smart & Safe Florida campaign and has contributed more than $38 million to date, announced earlier this month that advocates had “gathered sufficient raw signatures for inclusion on the November 2024 ballot.”
The Florida Division of Elections updates the ballot signature counts at the end of each month, so the current total isn’t reflected yet. But the last update showed that the campaign was about 94 percent of the way though, so it makes sense that advocates would’ve closed that gap at this point.
To make the ballot, activists will need to turn in 891,523 valid signatures. So far, the state had verified 786,747 signatures. By the end of February the campaign had crossed the symbolic threshold of 420,000 signatures. That rose to 635,961 valid signatures as of March.
If approved, the measure would change the state Constitution to allow existing medical cannabis companies in the state like Trulieve to begin selling marijuana to all adults over 21. It contains a provision that would allow—but not require—lawmakers to take steps toward the approval of additional businesses. Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted.
Adults 21 and older would be able to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be marijuana concentrate products. The three-page measure also omits equity provisions favored by advocates such as expungements or other relief for people with prior cannabis convictions.
A poll published in March found that 70 percent of Florida voters support legalizing marijuana. Florida voters approved a medical cannabis constitutional amendment in 2016.
Here’s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:
Adults 21 and older could purchase and possess up to three ounces of cannabis for personal use. The cap for marijuana concentrates would be five grams.
Medical cannabis dispensaries could “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute marijuana products and marijuana accessories to adults for personal use.”
The legislature would be authorized—but not required—to approve additional entities that are not currently licensed cannabis dispensaries.
The initiative specifies that nothing in the proposal prevents the legislature from “enacting laws that are consistent with this amendment.”
The amendment further clarifies that nothing about the proposal “changes federal law,” which seems to be an effort to avoid past legal challenges about misleading ballot language.
There are no provisions for home cultivation, expungement of prior records or social equity.
The measure would take effect six months following approval by voters.
"Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) had submitted an opinion contesting the reform measure based on a single subject challenge, as she’s done with earlier legalization bids."
Which leads me very quickly to this thought to FL voters:
Florida Supreme Court Sets Schedule For Legal Challenge To 2024 Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiative
The Florida Supreme Court is taking first steps to consider a legal challenge from the state attorney general, who is seeking to invalidate a marijuana legalization initiative that an industry-funded campaign is seeking to place on the 2024 ballot.
In a notice posted last week, the court acknowledged that Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) had submitted an opinion contesting the reform measure based on a single subject challenge, as she’s done with earlier legalization bids.
Before the Supreme Court makes a decision in the case, it said that initial briefings on the matter are due by June 12. Subsequent reply briefs will then be required to be submitted by July 5 and 12.
The attorney general’s initial filing on the initiative was submitted about a week after the Smart & Safe Florida campaign said that they’ve collected enough raw signatures to qualify for for 2024 ballot placement.
Moody claimed that the initiative violates the state Constitution’s single subject rule, which requires ballot proposals to be narrowly focused on an individual issue. She made the same argument against a 2022 legalization measure, and the Supreme Court subsequently invalidated it.
The Supreme Court is always required to review ballot petitions after they exceed a certain signature threshold, which the Smart & Safe Florida campaign achieved in January.
Despite Moody’s opinion, activists say that they’ve thoroughly vetted the measure and are confident the court will agree that it complies with constitutional requirements.
The cannabis company Trulieve, which is financially backing the Smart & Safe Florida campaign and has contributed more than $38 million to date, announced earlier this month that advocates had “gathered sufficient raw signatures for inclusion on the November 2024 ballot.”
The Florida Division of Elections updates the ballot signature counts at the end of each month, so the current total isn’t reflected yet. But the last update showed that the campaign was about 94 percent of the way though, so it makes sense that advocates would’ve closed that gap at this point.
To make the ballot, activists will need to turn in 891,523 valid signatures. So far, the state had verified 786,747 signatures. By the end of February the campaign had crossed the symbolic threshold of 420,000 signatures. That rose to 635,961 valid signatures as of March.
If approved, the measure would change the state Constitution to allow existing medical cannabis companies in the state like Trulieve to begin selling marijuana to all adults over 21. It contains a provision that would allow—but not require—lawmakers to take steps toward the approval of additional businesses. Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted.
Adults 21 and older would be able to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be marijuana concentrate products. The three-page measure also omits equity provisions favored by advocates such as expungements or other relief for people with prior cannabis convictions.
A poll published in March found that 70 percent of Florida voters support legalizing marijuana. Florida voters approved a medical cannabis constitutional amendment in 2016.
Here’s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:
Adults 21 and older could purchase and possess up to three ounces of cannabis for personal use. The cap for marijuana concentrates would be five grams.
Medical cannabis dispensaries could “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute marijuana products and marijuana accessories to adults for personal use.”
The legislature would be authorized—but not required—to approve additional entities that are not currently licensed cannabis dispensaries.
The initiative specifies that nothing in the proposal prevents the legislature from “enacting laws that are consistent with this amendment.”
The amendment further clarifies that nothing about the proposal “changes federal law,” which seems to be an effort to avoid past legal challenges about misleading ballot language.
There are no provisions for home cultivation, expungement of prior records or social equity.
The measure would take effect six months following approval by voters.
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