Panel: Amendment 2 firing up big bowl of who-knows-what

Medical marijuana champion John Morgan has said repeatedly recently that the “now-what?” questions regarding Amendment 2 are in the hands of lobbyists, lawyers, and legislators; but on Thursday a lobbyist, a lawyer and a legislator told told the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce they don’t really  know what’s next at this point.

Lobbyist Louis Rotundo who represents the Florida Medical Cannabis Association, lawyer Wade Vose who counsels several cities, and state Rep. Jason Bordeur, all agreed that the Florida Legislature, the Florida Department of Health, cities and counties, and businesses and entrepreneurs wanting to go into the medical marijuana industry, all have a lot of unanswered questions to sort through. And just saying no isn’t going to work in most cases.

In particular Brodeur, the Sanford Republican who has professional background in working with the Food and Drug Administration on drug approvals, outlined a long list of uncertainties from regulating where seeds can come from, to limitations on who can work in the industry, to disposal of unused parts of the plants, to how law enforcement deals with situations involving people with medical marijuana referrals.

All of that, he cautioned, is with a background of federal law that still make medical marijuana a Schedule 1 drug. That means if the federal government decided to enforce the laws, people could go to federal prisons for things authorized by the state legislature and Amendment 2.

“There are 100 decision points that we still need to do,” he said. “The answer is, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

The same may be true with how local governments might consider regulating local facilities, particularly retail outlets, known as dispensaries in state regulations and as pot shops in opponents’ language. Rotundo cautioned that cities ought not try to zone them into industrial areas only. He drew an image of a woman taking a child to a dispensary in an industrial area – a dark and creepy location. And she’s carrying cash, because marijuana medicines can only be purchased with cash. If she’s robbed or worse, the city is going to look really bad, he cautioned. Another alternative to tough zoning restrictions – which is happening right now – involves marijuana medicine being delivered to homes in unmarked delivery vans and cars, a method he suggested most neighborhoods would found unacceptable if they knew it was happening.

Vose conceded the points, but said cities and counties still must receive, from the legislature, direction and authority to regulate where the shops can go.

“It was a big wake-up call for cities and counties that they need to get in gear to get ready for these organizations, particularly for the retail,” Vose said of Amendment 2’s passage. “That’s where the big focus is for local government. Getting in gear and getting in place appropriate regulations… so they can adequately regulate where these products are going to be sold.”

Rotundo said the growth of the industry remains unpredictable. So far, it’s small, and he expressed doubts about the high estimates some have cited, that it could grow to a billion dollar industry in Florida. As long as it’s small, with seven licensed marijuana medicine producers and a handful of others that may win court challenges to join them,  there won’t be much to regulate.

“You can’t suspend the laws of economics,” he said. “The patient base is very limited right now.”