by Edd Gaus and Matt Bernstein Nearly four years after Florida voters legalized medical marijuana, in August, the state’s Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use published emergency rules allowing licensed medical marijuana treatment centers to produce, package, and label edible marijuana derivative products. Although initially temporary when enacted in August of 2020, the Department […]
Florida
Legalize marijuana campaigns in Florida move ahead. But will politicians back recreational pot?
The momentum is building for marijuana legalization across the country. But will Florida leaders join in? Voters in states as varied as South Dakota, Arizona and New Jersey approved ballot measures legalizing recreational pot in November. In Florida, though, two separate marijuana initiatives failed to get enough signatures to make the ballot in 2020. Instead, […]
What is the future of legal marijuana in Florida?
The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday voted to decriminalize marijuana. Most Democrats supported the bill that would enact that change. Most Republicans did not. The bill is unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. Was Congress’ historic vote an early sign of momentum to legalize marijuana across the United States? Or is was […]
Medical marijuana and CBD sales rise sharply during COVID-19 pandemic
Florida is seeing a surge in sales of medical marijuana and CBD hemp products as more people turn to them to treat their anxiety, insomnia and pain during the COVID-19 pandemic. Voters in 2016 approved the state’s new medical marijuana industry, and sales have been rising ever since. With patients limiting their trips out of […]
Popular California marijuana company, “Cookies”, gets Florida license, prepared to open in 2021
A California-based cannabis company known for its celebrity partnerships, colorful marketing and crowd-drawing interiors is headed to Florida. COOKIES, headed up by Bay-area rapper Gilbert Anthony Milan Jr., or “Berner,” has acquired one of Florida’s 22 coveted medical marijuana treatment center licenses and plans to begin business in 2021. The license was purchased from Port […]
Florida marijuana patients able to gobble up pot products
Just one week after health officials signed off on guidelines for edible pot products, Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator on Wednesday began selling THC-infused brownies, cookies, chocolates and gel caps in Tallahassee. The edible products are appearing on shelves nearly four years after Floridians approved a 2016 constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana for a […]
Edibles could boost Florida’s medical marijuana sales by $200M annually
The addition of edibles to Florida’s medical marijuana market could boost a projected near-$1 billion in 2020 cannabis sales by 20 percent, or $200 million, industry analysts said. The Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) released long-awaited guidelines for medical marijuana edibles Wednesday night, three years after voters approved a constitutional amendment legalizing medical […]
Florida quietly publishes medical marijuana edibles rules
In 2015, a small group of Department of Health employees including Florida’s chief medical marijuana regulator, Christian Bax, and then-surgeon general Celeste Philip hopped on a plane to Denver. They linked up with the Colorado Department of Public Health to tour cannabis production facilities and see what a nascent marijuana industry could achieve. Edibles worthy […]
Florida Supreme Court asks for a rare second round of arguments on medical marijuana
In a highly unusual move, the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a second round of arguments in a battle about whether the state has properly carried out a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. Justices heard arguments in May in a lawsuit filed by Florigrown, a Tampa-based firm that has challenged the […]
Columbia Care Accused of Fraudulently Taking Lucrative License
The complaint accuses New York-based Columbia Care of tortious interference with contract, unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy, aiding and abetting fraud and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, among other offenses, A Florida company focused on low-THC cannabis sued a New York-based cannabis company in New York County’s Supreme Court Commercial Division Friday, arguing that […]
