Tag Archives: medical marijuana

A new Florida bill could increase terminally ill patients' access to medical marijuana while further regulating how it's sold and distributed.

TALLAHASSEE — Five dispensing organizations selected by state officials, including one from Alachua County, promised lawmakers Wednesday they would meet a deadline next month to get medical-marijuana production off the ground, despite legal challenges that could threaten their licenses. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee received updates from the state Office of Compassionate …

A proposed constitutional amendment led by the group People United For Medical Marijuana, was unanimously approved to be placed on the Nov. 16 by the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday. Supreme Court justices said the proposal met legal tests that includes a clearly worded title and summary.

The Florida Department of Health received 13 petitions from nurseries challenging the medical-marijuana licenses that were granted to five nurseries. Loop’s Nursery, Plants of Ruskin, Tornello Landscape, Redlands Nursery, Dewar's, and McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery on Monday joined three other nurseries that filed petitions late last week challenging the awarded licenses. The nurseries filed the petitions because they believe the department did not allow them to defend their presentations before the licenses were awarded.

Perkins, TropiFlora and Gainesville-based San Felasco Nurseries, which were rejected by health officials for medical-marijuana licenses, are challenging the licenses granted to Florida's first "dispensing organizations." The deadline for appeals is Monday.

A Quinnipiac University poll last month found that nearly 90 percent of Florida voters support allowing adults to use medical marijuana. Numerous other surveys in Florida and across the country consistently show that a majority of voters endorse medical marijuana for sick and dying patients. Voters next November will almost certainly have the chance to decide whether Florida should legalize medical marijuana.

Almost three-quarters of Floridians --- 73 percent --- oppose allowing students with concealed-weapons permits to carry guns on campus.

Supporters of medical marijuana legalization went to court houses all over Florida on Friday in an effort to acquire the signatures needed to put the issue on the 2016 ballot. They need a total of 683,149 signatures, according to Ben Pollara, campaign manager for United for Care, an organization dedicated to legalizing medical marijuana.