Trulieve to open 200th cannabis dispensary in Brooksville

One of Florida’s largest medical cannabis dispensaries is opening yet another commercial facility in the state, with a brand new location in Brooksville.

Trulieve Cannabis Corp. is opening the dispensary in Brooksville north of Clearwater Friday. For Trulieve, it will be the company’s 200th dispensary they’ll operate in the United States. The event will be marked by a ribbon cutting at the dispensary site at 1280 S. Broad St. in Brooksville.

Trulieve is not only a Florida-based company with nearly 140 dispensaries in the state, but the business has become an influential power player in the cannabis rights debate in the Sunshine State. The company has led petition drives to legalize weed throughout Florida, a measure that will appear in a ballot initiative in Florida for the Nov. 5 election.

Trulieve has also spent substantial funding in campaign messaging for the legalization of cannabis. In May, Trulieve contributed $550,000 to the Smart & Safe Florida political committee.

The Brooksville dispensary opening is another milestone for Trulieve and the company sees itself as an advocate of liberty for marijuana access.

“Since our first medical dispensary opened in 2016, Trulieve has grown to become the world’s largest legal cannabis retailer. We are proud to be out front supporting expanded access to cannabis for patents and adults through advocacy, convenient, retail locations and high quality products,” said Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve.

Medicinal use of medical cannabis was approved by Florida voters in 2016. The overall legalization referendum set for November has shown vacillating support in Florida, at least according to opinion polls.

Since the proposed measure calls for an amendment to the constitution, it will need 3/5 voter approval from voters in order to go into effect. A Fox News poll this month showed the Adult Personal Use of Marijuana initiative (Amendment 3 on the statewide ballot) has 66% of voters supporting it and 32% opposed.