Guest AuthorSince June 2014 medical marijuana has been legal in Florida thanks to the Florida Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1030. Unfortunately Florida patients still wait for the law to become a reality in their medical treatment due to continuing delays in implementing the statute.
Floridians suffering from debilitating conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, ALS, MS and Parkinson’s are left wondering what, if any, relief will come to them via Tallahassee in this new year. SB1030 has been faced with setback after setback and Florida’s frustrated patients deserve answers. So where are we and just how far away is that from where we need to be?
After the Department of Health rewrote the proposed rule in January 2015 – a rule that enjoyed wide approval from patients, industry professionals and legislators alike – it received three new administrative challenges, which brought weeks of progress to a grinding halt. In an effort to fast track implementation of SB1030 and make good on the promise made to Florida’s most vulnerable, the Florida Legislature put forward a handful of bills that would expand the existing statute’s language.
These have received little attention to date. Recently, the Senate has introduced a new bill, SB 7066, which makes several important changes to SB1030 and provides an almost immediate implementation mechanism for the cannabis law. This goal was to prevent the continuing superfluous lawsuits based on individual self-interest. The bill intends to make certain the cannabis industry is regulated within the limits and spirit of the new and old law and stresses patient safety and affordability.
If it weren’t for the current administrative law challenges, the DOH would have been in a position to open up bids for licenses in early April, and the Legislature would not have been placed in the precarious position of having to intervene with this necessary fix.
If the administrative law judge decides these challenges hold no legal ground or the challengers themselves do not have legal standing, that is, “skin in the game,” we could see the implementation of Low-THC cannabis by mid-May 2015.
Should this occur, one can count on many of the currently filed bills in the Legislature to be all but abandoned. However, should the remaining two challenges hold up in court, the fate of Florida’s medical marijuana will remain in the hands of the 2015 Legislature and, finally, Gov. Rick Scott.
Let us hope that reason and compassion prevail.
Cerise Naylor is Executive Director of the Florida Medical Cannabis Association. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
