James Call
Negotiations to develop regulations for the state’s medical marijuana law are scheduled to conclude today. Patricia Nelson, director of the Office of Compassionate Use, said Wednesday that the intent is to publish a rule Monday, starting the clock on a 21-day comment period when the proposal could be challenged.
The working document as it now stands separates the dispensing of medicinal cannabis oil from the growing and processing facilities, and would permit a licensee to have multiple retail locations.
After its first proposed regulatory structure was thrown out by an administrative law judge, the Department of Health assembled a panel of growers, medical and legal professionals, and patient advocates to negotiate writing the regulations. The rules would govern the cultivation of marijuana and the dispensing of cannabis oil to treat children with epilepsy and cancer patients.
The panel spent 14 hours Wednesday identifying about 20 items that could invite a challenge, which could delay the start of a medicinal marijuana industry. The group is to meet all day today seeking consensus on issues such as testing standards, definition of retail facilities, and employee and contractor rules among other issues.
“After all, you wouldn’t open a subway on a rural country road,” said Taylor Patrick Biehl, policy director of the Medical Marijuana Business Association of Florida, of advocates’ concerns that patients would have to go to agricultural areas to buy medicine. “This is an important aspect of ensuring safety and efficiency.”
If the proposal survives the comment period then the rule enabling the growing and dispensing of a marijuana-based medicine could go into effect by the end of April, but the timing is tight.
If the rule requires a statement of estimated regulatory cost then a window to have it ratified by the Legislature before the legislative session adjourns in May could be missed.
“Then what happens? We wait until next session? Two years after the bill passed,” said Holley Mosely, whose daughter has epilepsy. Moseley, a member of the negotiating panel, said the excitement and optimism she felt at the start of Wednesday morning’s session had faded 12 hours later.
It is unclear whether DOH has started the calculations to determine whether legislative approval will be needed.
“I thought January 1 Rayann would be starting treatment so it’s just hard now to think it could be a year or more,” Moseley said.
The negotiations are taking place at DOH headquarters in Tallahassee.
