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Cannabis Spotlight

Eric Stevens ical marijuana amendment on the ballot
(twice) and collected over a million signatures
Deputy Executive Director to do this. We passed the law to allow a variety
of forms of medical marijuana and not just low
Florida for Care
thc and now we work on implementing this so
that patients, doctors, and businesses are able
What benefits do you see for patients throughout Florida within to have the best access. More than 180,000
this space? patients have registered for the program since
There are so many benefits in our state to patients from medical marijuana. We last year.
have been receiving calls from patients since we started campaigning in 2013 from
so many people who have been helped by medical marijuana who wanted legal safe How did you get started in the
medical access. Now that we have 71% of Florida voters on board, many people are
able to find out what products work best for them and many are getting off deadly cannabis industry?
prescription opiates and are able to get back to living their fullest life. In 2009 I decided to apply for an endow-
ment grant from the University of Miami to bring medical marijuana laws to Florida
and Massachusetts after meeting and seeing so many people who were helped by
What motivates you to be a part of the cannabis industry? this medicine and nothing else. I got a small stipend for the summer and traveled
I was motivated reading about other state policy change and then meeting Irv around the country to meet with people from MPP, SSDP, DPA, and others to learn
Rosenfeld (1 of 4 federal patients) and Cathy Jordan who suffers from ALS. Their about how to change these laws and came back to Florida and worked on the first
stories were eye opening and I could never imagine them being in jail for just trying city decriminalization campaign for Miami Beach before being the first person hired
to survive. I also saw that this was an industry making money and giving back to by Ben Pollara and John Morgan to help run the 2013-4 campaign. We then formed
the communities while helping people and I wanted to make sure we had a lawful Florida for Care to be an advocacy arm that could continue after our political com-
system for this in Florida. mittee work was finished.

What field are you in within the Cannabis space? Are you personally a MJ card holder?
Florida for Care is a 501c4 social advocacy nonprofit working for the continued All patients privacy should be protected: HIPPA
implementation of better med Mj policies and to make sure we educate Florida on
how to become a part of this system. We basically do a host of public relations, mar- Do you see Florida moving forward with recreational
keting, lobbying, and government relations work to make sure we continue to see
the best policies in Florida. I also started another C4 for the purpose of educating Marijuana/Cannabis and how will that affect your business?
and informing voters on the best marijuana supporting elected officials - Let’s not use recreational, let’s call this adult use. I believe Florida will put this on
empoweringwellness.org which we are using to support favorable candidate and the ballot for a vote in 2020, and will move forward with this at some point in the
provide background on them. near future after this because they want tax revenue to come in and do not like that
there is no tax on the medical system. However, Florida requires a 60+% vote and
not one state in the U.S. has achieved more than 60 percent of an adult use vote. So
How can people in Florida benefit from the company you represent?
If we hadn’t passed the amendment, Florida might only still have a low THC pro- if we are to pass this we will need a very well-funded campaign, especially expecting
gram that was serving less than 2,000 patients in Jan 2017. Our group put the med- that there will be a well-funded opposition campaign.

Back Cover Story: Trulieve Rapidly Expanding Footprint to Meet Patients’ Needs

Continued from back page. vides them with a comfort level,” said strain varieties, the types of delivery
“Florida has done a good job of making Walker, adding that products are shipped methods—including onset time and how
sure that there is a safe and structured twice weekly from the grow facility in long it lasts in their systems—and what
process from a quality assurance stand- Quincy, FL to each of the company’s their preferences are; our goal is to fit the
point,” said Walker. “Plants at the baby stores. person’s lifestyle and provide the kind of
stage are assigned a batch number, and relief they need.”
everything that happens on their journey, Helping Patients Choose While there have been challenges
from nutrients to water to harvesting and In many cases, purchasing medical along the way—including finding allow-
drying, is under that number. Everything cannabis is a huge learning curve for able real estate, getting new products
is tracked.” patients, and Trulieve strives to make the out into the marketplace, and dealing
That process is done in coordination process easier. with ever-evolving rules, Walker said
with third-party lab reports that assure First-time patients can visit Trulieve’s that Trulieve will continue in its quest to
that whatever form the product takes, website to see a list of preferred physi- expand.
whether capsules, tinctures, vaping car- cians, as well as to watch informational “We feel that it is our responsibility to
tridges or more, are also pure and safe. videos and see a list of the most com- grow the business quickly,” she
“Patients can see a three-page lab report monly asked questions about medical explained. “If we hadn’t pushed our-
just by putting a batch number into our cannabis. Once they’ve seen a doctor selves to grow our footprint and to
website,” said Walker. “This way, they can and been approved for a Medical increase our product line, there would
be sure that there are no pesticides or Marijuana Use identification card, they be patients out there without access to
residual solvents, and that the product is can visit one of Trulieve’s stores for more the medicine that they need.
free from mycotoxins.” advice. “It’s been two years, and we haven’t
Trulieve grows more than 50 different “Some physicians are very specific slowed down at all,” she added. “If we
strains of medical cannabis, and carries about what they want patients to try; don’t help people find a natural alterna-
125 different product lines, including others are okay with the dispensary giv- tive, then we aren’t fulfilling our mission.”

many under brand names such as ing recommendations—we use the To learn more about Trulieve, as well as
TruClear, TruShatter and TruFlower. physicians’ orders as a starting point to to see a list of store locations, visit
“Having our own brand helps to build determine how to guide them,” said www.Trulieve.com.
relationships with customers and pro- Walker. “We talk to them about different

38 November 2018 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News