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Dear Readers:

South Florida Hospital News & Healthcare Report welcomes you to CannabisNewsFlorida.com, a feature of our print
publication, website, and e-newsletters. Its purpose is to provide pertinent educational information from leading authorities
about medical and business developments in the medical cannabis industry. We also intend to provide both national

and international information which will affect the medical cannabis business in the State of Florida.

Florida and Medical Marijuana:

How We Got Here and Where Are We Going?

How we got here to put a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution that
would have legalized certain medical uses of marijuana. Although
Well, it took the Florida Legislature several tries to enact legisla- the amendment was approved by 57% of the voters in that off-year
tion reflecting the public’s will concerning the use of medical mari- election, that fell short of the 60% approval required for adoption.
juana in this state. However, during the Special Session held in June, The Florida Legislature passed and Governor Scott signed the
the 2017 Florida Legislature appears to have accomplished this "Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014" (the
objective. Before discussing what happened earlier this year, it is “Compassionate Care Act”). Section 381.986, Florida Statutes. This
helpful to recall how it evolved. legislation permitted a limited number of patients to obtain marijua-
Over the past 20 years, a majority of states have passed legislation na legally to treat a limited range of medical conditions. In many
authorizing their citizens to possess and use marijuana. In some peoples’ view, the Compassionate Care Act did not go far enough.
states, the legislatures enacted measures addressing the use of mari- For example, it authorized the growing, production, and distribu-
juana only for medical purposes, so-called “medical marijuana”. tion of a relatively low potency strain of marijuana (referred to as
Other states have also permitted recreational use of marijuana. “Charlotte’s Web”), limited the medical conditions for which it
Florida’s response to the growing trend to legalize some uses of BY STEPHEN H. SIEGEL, could be prescribed, and restricted the number of vertically integrat-
marijuana has been slow. The Florida Legislature resisted addressing ESQ. ed organizations (i.e., organizations that are licensed to grow,
this issue. Thus, in 2014 a petition drive gathered enough signatures
process, and distribute marijuana) that could enter this business.
Those who supported making medical marijuana available to a
broader section of the population went back to the drawing board, initiated anoth-
er petition drive, and were able to have another proposed amendment to the
Florida Constitution placed on the ballot in 2016 (“Amendment 2”). Unlike the
2014 ballot initiative, Amendment 2 received the approval of over 70% of those
voting, thereby automatically becoming part of the state’s constitution. As a result,
during its recent Special Session, the Florida Legislature passed enabling legisla-
tion that Governor Scott has signed. Senate Bills 6A and 8A (Medical Marijuana
Registry and Medical Use of Marijuana, respectively, and collectively referred to
herein as the “2016 Act”).
The Compassionate Care Act authorized those patients diagnosed with a “qual-
ifying condition”, i.e., cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, PTSD, ALS, Crohn’s
disease, Parkinson’s disease, MS, or “other debilitation medical conditions of the
same kind or class or comparable to those enumerated” to receive so-called “Low-
THC” cannabis. While all of these “qualifying conditions” are included in the 2016
Act, it also includes patients who have chronic pain relating to one of these “qual-
ifying conditions” or are terminally ill. Further, there is no longer a limitation
regarding the strength of the cannabis that may be administered.
Under the 2016 Act, eligibility to receive medical marijuana has been limited to
those individuals who not only have a “qualifying condition”, but who also are (i)
Florida residents, (ii) registered on the Department of Health’s Medical Marijuana
Use Registry, and (iii) received Medical Marijuana Use Registry identification
cards. However, once an individual has received a Registry identification card,
there is no additional waiting period before they can receive medical marijuana.
In order to prescribe medical marijuana, an authorized physician (i.e., one who
has undergone a mandatory training program and received authorization to pre-
scribe medical marijuana) must personally supervise a patient’s examination. As
part of that examination, the physician must determine that the patient has a
“qualifying condition”, and the benefits likely to be derived from his/her using
medical marijuana outweigh the risks associated with this treatment. Although
regulations still need to be adopted, the 2016 Act permits an authorized physician
to give a patient one (1) initial seventy (70) day supply and two (2) refills of equal
duration of medical marijuana.
As with any new law, Amendment 2 and the 2016 Act leave many unanswered
questions that are likely to impact patients in Florida who are eligible to receive
medical marijuana, physicians who are authorized to prescribe this substance, hos-
pitals and other healthcare facilities charged with responsibility for treating these
patients, their employers, law enforcement agencies, and others in the community.
Patients with “qualifying conditions”, physicians authorized to certify the need for
medical marijuana, and entrepreneurs who believe this presents a business oppor-
tunity all would be well served to work with legal counsel and consultants who
have knowledge concerning the status of medical marijuana in Florida.

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30 July 2017 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News