A.G. Gancarski
Legislation that would put preemptions on a potential adult-use cannabis market, which may be up for citizens’ initiative on November’s ballot, continues blazing through the Legislature.
The Health and Human Services Committee advanced the legislation (HB 1269) by a 14-6 party-line vote.
Republican Rep. Ralph Massullo’s bill was postponed a week before for reasons that were ultimately hazy. But when the smoke cleared after the meeting Thursday, Massullo’s legislation was riding high, and was tougher due to the infusion of new language restricting carts.
The just-added language would cap vaporizer carts at 1 gram, meaning that bigger tanks wouldn’t be allowed. For context, 1 gram is the size of the biggest carts in the state’s medical marijuana market. People who wanted more quantity could buy “two or three” carts, Massullo advised.
The amendment also “maintains the medical marijuana program,” keeping it from expiring six months after recreational cannabis becomes legal. Massullo touted the safety of the medical program in Florida in his close, contrasting it to the purported dangers of an unsafe, unregulated market.
And it caps edibles at 200 mg of delta-9 THC per package and 10 mg per serving.
The previously extant language caps THC in flower, which one might use in a pipe or a pre-roll, at 30%. The more onerous cap for the potential industry: a 60% limit on the THC in concentrates.
This law would take effect 30 days after November’s election, in the event that an amendment to the state constitution authorizing adult personal use of marijuana makes the 2024 ballot and is passed, as legally required, with at least 60% of the vote.
The bill is moving in the Senate as well, where it has one more committee stop ahead.
If this becomes law, it’s the Governor’s call. And on this issue, he’s taken heterodox positions.
During his first term, Ron DeSantis didn’t back caps for the medical product when a proposal was advanced, though that was a 10% THC cap on flower at the time.
He has sent mixed signals on cannabis since, voicing objections to the “stench” of legalized weed, but acknowledging he expected the citizens’ initiative to be on the ballot.
One comment
Dont Say FLA
February 19, 2024 at 2:30 pm
What is it with today’s G0P always seeming to do everything they can to misrepresent voters and/or prevent them from voting?
If voters approve weed, then shuddup about it and Fine something else to cry rivers about, G0P.
If voters approve abortions, then shuddup about THAT!
When you find you’re constantly fighting what the voters vote for, your ship has effectively already sunk. The lines still holding your sunken ship afloat, they will soon snap under the load and you’ll be under the sea yeah yeah under the sea
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