Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

A.G. GancarskiFebruary 8, 2018

Arguably the greatest evidence of a disconnect between Gov. Rick Scott‘s administration and the Florida Legislature can be found in the state’s medical marijuana program. Tensions boiled over Monday in the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee, which ensures that agencies write rules that line up with statutes passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. Committee chair Kevin Rader, a […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 5, 2018

Four times, lawmakers on Monday gave the state’s top medical marijuana regulator an opportunity to speak on their objections to rules and regulations on the drug. And four times, Christian Bax said nothing because it wasn’t yet time to do so, he later explained. “The department has 30 days in order to respond,” Bax, director of […]

Jim RosicaJanuary 31, 2018

Rep. Jason Brodeur is telling the state’s top health officials to get to work on medical marijuana—or they won’t get paid. The Sanford Republican has offered an amendment to the House’s 2018-19 budget proposal that would freeze more than $1.9 million in salaries and benefits for the Department of Health‘s brass, including Secretary and state Surgeon General Celeste […]

Jim RosicaDecember 14, 2017

An epic 238-page lawsuit filed by Joe Redner‘s Florigrown company—replete with references to Encyclopedia Britannica, ancient Roman medical texts and the Nixon White House tapes—alleges that the state is failing its responsibility to carry out the people’s will when it comes to medical marijuana. The complaint was filed Wednesday in Leon County Circuit Civil court […]

Jim RosicaNovember 15, 2017

A litany of lawsuits continues to jam up the state’s medical marijuana licensure process, the state’s top marijuana official told House lawmakers Wednesday. Christian Bax, executive director of the state Health Department’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use, gave the House Health Quality Subcommittee an overview of his work, including the latest tally of legal challenges. “(Our) position […]

Jim RosicaOctober 11, 2017

State regulators have rejected a California bank’s proposal to operate in Florida as a financial middleman for medical marijuana-related transactions. The Office of Financial Regulation turned down a request from PayQwick for a declaratory statement so it could operate here. Christian Bax, director of the Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use, gave a presentation Wednesday […]

Jim RosicaAugust 23, 2017

Medical marijuana advocate John Morgan has added three more plaintiffs to his lawsuit against the state, filed after lawmakers refused to allow marijuana to be smoked, according to court filings accessed Wednesday. Diana Dodson of Levy County, a cancer patient; Catherine Jordan of Manatee County, who has Lou Gehrig’s disease; and Roberto Pickering of Leon County, […]

Jim RosicaJuly 6, 2017

Medical marijuana advocate John Morgan says cannabis smoking doesn’t “impair lung function” and even “increase(s) lung capacity,” as part of his lawsuit to be filed against the state Thursday. Florida Politics on Wednesday night acquired a copy of the 15-page complaint that Morgan says he will file in Leon Circuit Civil court in Tallahassee—against which a […]

Associated PressMay 15, 2017

Florida’s Department of Health on Monday ordered a Quincy-based dispensary to quit selling a medical cannabis product that could potentially be broken down and made into pot that can be smoked. Trulieve began selling its first whole-flower cannabis product meant for vaping last week at five retail dispensaries and through home delivery. The buds in […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 8, 2017

Patients, caregivers and activists offered emotional – and often searing – testimony Wednesday in a Tampa workshop held by the state office that regulates medical marijuana. In a standing-room-only meeting for the Office of Compassionate Use, they discussed proposed rules on medical marijuana that could go into effect later this year. The agency’s rule-making workshop […]

Tag: Christian Bax
Image via AP.

Rick Scott: Department of Health doing ‘everything it can’ on medical marijuana

Medical marijuana regulator’s silence vexes lawmakers

Jason Brodeur to Health Dep’t: No pay till progress on marijuana

Joe Redner’s Florigrown files mammoth medical marijuana lawsuit

Legal challenges bog down medical cannabis process

Regulators shoot down medical marijuana payment proposal

Smoke this: John Morgan adds plaintiffs to marijuana lawsuit

John Morgan’s suit says smoking pot actually good for the lungs

State orders sales stopped on new cannabis product

At medical marijuana hearing in Tampa, citizens blast proposed rules