Advertisement

Editorial: Don't complicate medical marijuana efforts

 
Published Nov. 27, 2015

A well-intentioned effort to give terminally ill patients access to a noneuphoric strain of marijuana, commonly known as Charlotte's Web, should not derail the good work that state lawmakers have already done. The Florida Legislature passed the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act last year, but the drug that was supposed to bring relief to suffering children and thousands of others remains unavailable, caught in one regulatory tangle after another. Now that the state law appears close to implementation, new legislation that addresses a side issue should not impede its progress.

Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, is sponsoring a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to try the noneuphoric marijuana if they are in what is presumed to the be final year of their lives. Bradley's bill, SB 460, expands the 2015 Right to Try Act, which authorizes a manufacturer to provide a patient with a drug, biological product or device that has completed phase one of a clinical trial but has not received FDA approval. The act allows manufacturers to contract with and dispense investigational drugs and products directly to patients. The bill seems like a reasonable and compassionate way to broaden existing Florida law for some of the state's sickest residents who have given up on traditional treatment.

Unfortunately, a last-minute amendment to a virtually identical bill in the House threatens the regulatory framework for state law. The amendment, adopted earlier this month, would provide for the establishment of 20 marijuana dispensing organizations by Oct. 1. This group would only serve terminally ill patients and would be bound by separate qualifications and rules from the five regional nurseries that will distribute noneuphoric marijuana. The amendment seeks to fix the provisions of the state law that ran afoul of black farmers and other growers who complained about current eligibility rules, notably the requirement that growers must have been operating businesses continually for 30 years. The rules are too restrictive, but this is not the place to address them.

Lawmakers should focus on implementing current law and, separately, craft legislation that more broadly legalizes medical marijuana. There is no time to waste, because the movement to approve a constitutional amendment on medical marijuana is again gaining steam for next year. This time, presented with no alternative from a Legislature that has had plenty of opportunities to come up with a statutory solution, voters will likely legalize medical marijuana by passing the amendment with the 60 percent required approval. This is a reasonable but imperfect solution given the difficulties of making changes to the Constitution, and lawmakers should head it off now. Making sure the marijuana law they have already passed is fully functioning would be an excellent place to start.

Nearly two years after legislators legalized noneuphoric marijuana, it remains unavailable to people in need. House members behind the bill to help terminally ill patients and broaden the base of growers should back down and support the simpler, less contentious Senate version. Complicating the process by adding additional growers will likely result in a fresh battle that does a disservice to sick Floridians who are desperately in need of help. Their well-being should be lawmakers' chief concern. It has already been long enough.