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Editorial: Time for Legislature to approve medical marijuana rules

 
Published June 8, 2017

With any luck, the Florida Legislature today finally will approve a legal framework for implementing voter-approved medical marijuana. After failing to agree during the regular session, a consensus emerged during this week's special session and the major issues have been resolved. The regulation of medical marijuana will continue to evolve as the state gains experience with it, but today should mark a milestone for thousands of patients across Florida who are waiting for access to this palliative drug.

Perhaps most importantly, lawmakers are set to add 10 grower licenses to the seven already authorized under a more limited cannabis program. Growers generally would be limited to opening 25 storefront dispensaries, with a separate cap on dispensaries for each region of the state that would vary by population, until at least 2020. More dispensaries could open as new patients are added to the state registry, and there are details about how dispensaries should be designed to create a medical environment.

Amendment 2, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters in November, authorizes doctors to recommend medical use of marijuana for people with debilitating medical conditions, including cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis. It also authorizes caregivers to help patients obtain and use marijuana, and the Department of Health to create a database regulating doctors, patients, caregivers and dispensing organizations. Providing ready access for patients should be a fundamental function of the law implementing the amendment. But legislators were tepid in their response, and leaving the shaping of this potentially billion-dollar industry in the hands of Department of Health regulators with no law to guide them would be a mistake.

The emerging compromise still has some shortcomings. It does not allow smokable forms of marijuana — a ban that is not specified in the language of the amendment and is not justified. John Morgan, the Orlando attorney who spearheaded the amendment drive, has threatened to sue the state if it does not allow smokable forms of marijuana. The compromise also does not authorize the medical use of marijuana for chronic pain alone. Patients can use it for pain tied to one of the conditions listed in the amendment, but that could exclude people suffering from pain due to car accidents or other injuries. Those patients are in dire need of relief, and addictive opioids should not be their only option.

The voters spoke clearly that they want medical marijuana readily available in Florida. Lawmakers have dragged their feet on following that directive, but they should approve a framework today that would get the industry up and running. It will likely need to be tweaked year after year, and authorizing chronic pain and smokables should be the first improvements for lawmakers to address. For now, though, state legislators should fulfill their obligation and embrace this reasonable foundation for the implementation of medical marijuana.