Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
The Florida Senate will consider expanding medical marijuana options to the terminally ill.
The Senate is scheduled to discuss Tuesday a bill (SB 460) by Sen. Rob Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican, that adds medical cannabis to the state’s Right to Try Act. Under the proposal, eligible patients and their legal representatives would be able to purchase and possess marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The 2015 Right to Try Act allows terminal patients to try experimental medical treatments that have passed the first phase of a clinical trial, but haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Unlike a similar House measure (HB 307), it doesn’t address adding more medical marijuana dispensing organizations.
The amended version of the House bill cleared its final committee earlier this week. That bill allows the Department of Health to add three more dispensing organizations if 250,000 qualified patients register. The bill also creates new regulatory standards for dispensing organizations.
