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Editorial: Get Charlotte's Web rules right

 
An administrative law judge has wisely overturned a Florida Department of Health rule that would have allowed growers of medical marijuana known as Charlotte’s Web to be chosen by a lottery.
An administrative law judge has wisely overturned a Florida Department of Health rule that would have allowed growers of medical marijuana known as Charlotte’s Web to be chosen by a lottery.
Published Nov. 28, 2014

An administrative law judge has wisely overturned a Florida Department of Health rule that would have allowed the growers of a noneuphoric strain of medical marijuana known as Charlotte's Web to be chosen by a lottery. The judge's ruling likely means health officials will fail to have regulations for the newly legalized drug in place by January. But the judge made the right call, because deciding who will be allowed to grow and dispense marijuana for sick children and adults with severe epileptic seizures should not be left to the luck of the draw.

After the passage of the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014, the Department of Health was charged with implementing the regulation, growth and distribution of Charlotte's Webb, a noneuphoric strain of marijuana. The drug is low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and contains high amounts of cannabidiol, an ingredient known for treating seizures, cancer and muscle spasms. The lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott were swayed largely by the families of sick children seeking relief from painful epileptic seizures that have not responded to traditional medicine. Among other provisions regulating the drug's use, the law says only five nurseries around the state can grow and dispense the low-THC marijuana. This summer, the Department of Health proposed that the selection process for those growers take place through a lottery. Potential growers were outraged. Several, including Costa Farms of Miami and Plants of Ruskin, sought relief in court.

In his ruling last month, Judge W. David Watkins sided with the potential marijuana growers and said growers should be evaluated independently, in part on their financial ability to produce the product, their security and safety plans, and their inventory control plans. The lottery "approach does not ensure that the most qualified candidates will be approved, only that the luckiest five applicants that meet the minimum requirements will be approved," Watkins wrote. "Assuring the dependable delivery of consistently high-quality, low-THC medicine is too important to be left to chance."

About 75 Florida nurseries meet the state's minimum requirements to grow noneuphoric marijuana, which include being in business for 30 continuous years and having a certification for the cultivation of more than 400,000 plants. The Department of Health's selection proposal left no room to consider a grower's ability to produce a quality, effective and safe product. And the department's illogical framework discouraged competition, a scenario in which consumers will most certainly suffer.

Now that the judge has struck down the proposed rules, the department should move to address Watkins' many concerns and create a selection process for growers that focuses on merit, a track record of producing plants for human consumption and the potential to produce a quality product. The department should not drag its feet. More than 125,000 Floridians, many of them sick children, await relief.

With 57 percent of Florida voters supporting the failed bid for the legalization of medical marijuana in last month's election, the stakes are even higher. If the Legislature or voters ever authorize the broader use of medical marijuana, the rules the department makes regarding Charlotte's Web will likely be an important part of the framework for the drug's wider regulation. Health officials cannot afford to get this wrong again.