The tide is flowing against a Charlotte's Web glitch bill

It appears the Charlotte’s Web carousel will start up again on March 2. John Dial of Stuart requested a public hearing to discuss a proposed rule for a 2014 law creating five licenses to grow marijuana and to process oil from the plant to dispense as medicinal oil for children with epilepsy and cancer patients.

The regulatory structure was supposed to be in place Jan. 1, 2015 but a legal challenge delayed implementation of the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014. DOH’s interpretation of the law has evolved during seven months of hearings, workshops and legal proceedings. It would no longer require licensees to grow, process and dispense on one contiguous piece of property. The change in interpretation of the statute has raised questions Dial would like to ask regulators.

“Please understand that my request is offered as a positive gesture to allow all of the interested parties who were not participants in the negotiated rule hearing to have an opportunity to clearly understand the specifics of the proposed rule and any insights and interpretations that the Department of Health might provide on the comprehensive initiative,” Dial wrote in his request for the hearing which will be held in Tallahassee.

Dial later explained to CBS Miami he’s wondering how sprawling of an operation DOH would permit.

“Does that mean we grow it on our nursery ground but we can lease a processing room someplace else because you don’t have a clean room there,” Dial told CBS. “They’re talking about leasing properties. Does that mean if we’re in the central division but I’ve got four warehouses that I can lease in the southeast division because it’s more cost effective to do so?”

A hearing does not necessarily mean there will be a challenge but it does provide a forum to identify issues where regulators and growers and investors disagree. A challenge could delay the availability of medicinal oil for up to a year – then again, everything could be resolved and a licensing process begun by May.

There is a lot at stake in rule development. The first five growers to secure a license to grow marijuana in Florida will be on the ground floor of what is expected to blossom into a multi-million dollar business. Nearly half the states authorize medicinal marijuana and a handful allows the recreational use.

During the negotiated rule making session growers failed in an effort to persuade DOH to agree to a common ownership arrangement shielding licensed growers from federal banking and insurance regulations prohibiting business with illegal drug dealers.  Other growers say the federal prohibition is not a deterrent; that they will self-finance the operation.

The confusion Dial expressed and the concerns some growers have about federal regulations are among the reasons that some advocates are working on a glitch bill; something a leading patient advocate shot down Friday.

Ryan Wiggins represents Holley Moseley who campaigned for the Charlotte’s Web measure on behalf of her daughter who is afflicted with epileptic seizures. She represents Holley Moseley who campaigned for the measure on behalf of her daughter who is afflicted with epileptic seizures. Moseley was the patient advocate on the 12-member negotiating panel.

“Any glitch bill or legislation that expands 1030 will further delay implementation of Charlotte’s Web and thus continue to jeopardize the lives of Florida’s epileptic children,” said Wiggins.

Wiggins applauded House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner’s commitment to implementing the medicinal marijuana law. Crisafulli said the participants in the rule making process seem to be the source of the confusion and not the way the law was written.

“They’re creating these problems through the rule making process not through the legislative action we took,” said Crisafulli. “That’s just my personal feeling – why create more of a problem where you have to come to statute to fix it. So implement it correctly through the process of rulemaking and then we can have a conversation about whether or not there is a problem with the statute.”

The undercurrent flowing through the Capitol is that there will be no glitch bill this session.