After years of partisan squabbling over the fate of Florida’s medical marijuana program, Democrats and Republicans are coming together to push what they’re calling a major reform bill.

It could make it a lot harder for Floridians to get their hands on delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products. Those smokable and edible products have been part of a fast-growing market in Florida.

Because of a loophole in the 2018 farm bill passed by Congress, hemp products containing lots of delta-8 aren’t regulated like marijuana products heavy in the psychoactive delta-9 THC compound — even though the compounds are extremely similar. Delta-9 produces the euphoric effect felt by users of medical and recreational marijuana.

But delta-8 is only lightly regulated by the state. The cannabis reform bill, HB 679, sponsored by Reps. Andrew Learned, D-Brandon, and Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, would change that. It also would:

▪ Expand the use of telehealth in medical marijuana.

▪ Restrict medical marijuana advertising practices.

▪ Require cannabis doctors to complete a six-hour training course before they are cleared to recommend marijuana to patients.

▪ Expand cannabis patients’ registration cards to last two years instead of one.

▪ Restrict medical marijuana companies from sitting on an inactive license, then flipping it for a profit.

▪ Create a new Medical Marijuana Testing Advisory Council, and expand regulations around the testing of marijuana products. [Read more at Miami Herald]