Lawmakers strike deal to address medical marijuana in special session June 7, 2017
By Michael Auslen
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
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TALLAHASSEE —
State lawmakers on Wednesday reached agreement on how to put medical marijuana — passed overwhelmingly by voters in November — into effect in Florida.
Legislative leaders are expected to add it to their agenda as they convene in Tallahassee Wednesday afternoon, a rare sign of consensus in a contentious special session.
The agreement calls for 10 new growers to be licensed this year, in addition to the seven that already hold a state license under an existing, limited cannabis program. Five new growers would be added for every 100,000 patients, Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton — who was involved in negotiations — told the Herald/Times.
Lawmakers will also cap the number of dispensaries each grower can open at 25. That was the key sticking point when they failed to reach agreement on marijuana earlier this year. The Senate was pushing for a lower cap, intending to limit the influence of the existing growers, some of whose business models revolve around opening as many as 50 storefronts. The House, meanwhile, wanted no caps, saying that was the free-market approach to starting this new, potentially $1 billion, industry in Florida.
It is expected that the deal allows for edibles and “vaping” but not for smoking which the House and Senate previously agreed upon.
As well, Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa will receive funding for medical marijuana research under the bill, a Galvano priority.
“Our constitutional duty is to ensure the availability and safe use of medical marijuana in the manner prescribed by Florida voters,” bill sponsor Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said in a statement. “This patient-first legislation will expand access to this medicine, while ensuring safety through a unified regulatory structure for each component of the process from cultivation to consumption.”
In May, during the final hours of their regular legislative session, negotiators failed to reach agreement on key points of a medical marijuana law. But a groundswell of support among the rank-and-file members of the House and Senate, as well as from Speaker Richard Corcoran and activist voices, pushed for lawmakers to address it in a special session.
A final bill will be filed late Wednesday morning, according to the Senate. Lawmakers in both chambers have said they would not address the issue unless agreement could be reached ahead of time.
There is broad support among lawmakers to pass some sort of legislation after it got 71 percent of voters’ support in November. The voter-approved constitutional amendment directs the state to set up a system for regulating marijuana so patients with a long list of conditions, including HIV/AIDS, cancer, post traumatic stress disorder and epilepsy, can access it.
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