Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jim RosicaJuly 27, 2018

Christian Bax, director of Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU), has stepped down after a controversial three-year tenure that frustrated patients, angered lawmakers, and witnessed an explosion in litigation. His resignation is effective Aug. 10. Deputy director Courtney Coppola will serve as interim director, Department of Health spokesman Devin Galleta said Friday. Bax’s resignation letter, released […]

Jim RosicaMay 24, 2018

Despite lawmakers’ concerns, the Department of Health has final say over how medical marijuana plays out in Florida, the state’s top regulator suggested. The agency regulates the drug through its Office of Medical Marijuana Use. The office’s director, Christian Bax, spoke with reporters Thursday after a rulemaking hearing in Tallahassee. A legislative panel took Bax’s office to task […]

Jim RosicaMay 9, 2018

A legislative panel is again taking the state’s medical marijuana regulators to task, asking whether they are “refusing to modify the rules” governing the drug. Kenneth Plante, coordinator of the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee (JAPC), fired off a letter Tuesday to Department of Health general counsel Nichole Geary. In it, he said the department’s Office […]

Jim RosicaApril 27, 2018

The head of the clinic where Tampa strip club mogul Joe Redner‘s doctor works says he’s concerned whether medical marijuana regulators are “trying to go after Dr. Barry Gordon because of his involvement in the Redner case.” Redner is a lung cancer survivor who is in remission, and Gordon recommended juiced marijuana as the best […]

Jim RosicaApril 24, 2018

Sen. Dana Young is pressing the Department of Health to ramp up efforts to issue more licenses for medical marijuana providers. Young, a Tampa Republican, sent a letter to Office of Medical Marijuana Use director Christian Bax on Tuesday. She referred to the state’s cracking the 100,000 mark last Friday – coincidentally on April 20, or […]

Jim RosicaApril 13, 2018

Calling it a “blue sky opportunity,” the state’s chief medical marijuana regulator opened a rule-making workshop Friday with a twist: No rules. Agencies usually issue draft rules weeks in advance of a workshop, so there’s something to comment on when interested parties arrive. Many attendees were lobbyists for marijuana providers. But Christian Bax, head of the […]

Jim RosicaApril 2, 2018

Trulieve, a medical marijuana provider, on Monday filed a “constitutional challenge” against the state’s Department of Health over how many retail stores it can open, and where, under current law. An attorney for the company, which is seeking “non-monetary declaratory or injunctive relief,” provided a copy of the complaint by George Hackney Inc., the Gadsden County nursery […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 20, 2018

Amendment 2 was approved by 71 percent of Florida voters in 2016, yet nearly two years later, the Office of Medical Marijuana Use is still workshopping rules. The road show came to Jacksonville Tuesday afternoon, to a Southside hotel in the absolute doldrums of renovations. From peeling wallpaper in the single-occupancy bathroom to a stale, […]

Jim RosicaMarch 9, 2018

[Ed. Note — This story, first posted Thursday, was updated Friday.] Lawmakers on Thursday included a provision to withhold more than $1.9 million in Department of Health salaries and benefits in the final 2018-19 state budget until regulators fully implement medical marijuana. The proviso language, which “qualifies or restricts a specific appropriation,” means certain Health officials will get […]

Danny McAuliffeMarch 8, 2018

The state is one step closer to removing a barrier for a black farmer to receive a medical marijuana growing license. The Senate on Thursday passed a bill (HB 6049) that would delete a provision from statutes requiring a black farmer to be a member of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association Florida Chapter to […]

Tag: Christian Bax
A nice warm evening in Tallahassee on a very busy street while taking this shot.

Christian Bax quits as state’s top medical marijuana regulator

Medical marijuana regulator: We’ll change our rules—or not

Lawmakers fire another warning shot over medical marijuana rules

Health Department sends ‘warning’ to Joe Redner’s marijuana doc

Dana Young: Let’s get the medical marijuana licensing train rolling

Dumpster diving for pot? State continues rule-making for medical marijuana

Medical marijuana provider Trulieve sues state over store limits

In Jacksonville, Christian Bax defends medical marijuana rulemaking process

Legislature slashing Health Dep’t pay because of medical marijuana delays

Legislature backs bill removing black farmer medical marijuana requirement