On June 16, 2014, Governor Rick Scott signed the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014 (Chapter 381.986, Florida Statutes). On January 1, 2015, competent doctors might prescribe low-THC cannabis for patients under the Act. Before prescribing low-THC cannabis, a physician must be licenced under Chapter 458 and 459 of the Florida Statutes, complete an 8-hour training course, and pass an exam. Medicalmarijuana.com florida law defines low-THC cannabis as a cannabis product or derivative with 0.8% or less tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and more than 10% cannabidiol (CBD). The Compassionate Medicinal Cannabis Act restricts the ailments treated with low-TCH cannabis and prohibits smoking. Instead, qualifying patients may use extracts or a doctor-prescribed vaporizer to consume cannabis.
Governor Scott signed Bill 307 on March 25, 2016, expanding the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act to enable terminally ill patients (defined as anticipated to die within a year without life-sustaining operations) to swallow all forms of medicinal cannabis. Medical cannabis users must register with the Florida Department of Health’s Compassionate Use Registry and get an ID card under Bill 307. On July 26, 2016, Tallahassee established Florida’s first low-THC cannabis shop.
Amendment 2, the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Proposal, will be voted on on November 8, 2016. United for Caring, which failed to pass Amendment 2 in 2014, put Amendment 2 on the ballot. Amendment 2 needs 60% of Florida voters to pass under the California Constitution.
Florida Medical Marijuana Statistics
- Florida has 6 Department of Health-approved medicinal marijuana shops.
- Caregivers may represent patients in Florida. “Healthcare surrogates acting according to the eligible patient’s written consent” must register with the Department of Health. Their carer ID card must include the patient’s name.
- According to California-based cannabis research and investment company ArcView Group, medicinal marijuana in Florida may be a $1.5 billion sector by 2020 and account for 7% of the U.S. legal cannabis market.
- A Florida dispensary must have operated a plant nursery for 30 years and cultivated 400,000 plants before being certified to grow, process, and distribute medicinal cannabis.
- Florida employers cannot discriminate against Compassionate Use Registry members.
- In June 2015, some Florida towns and counties passed rules permitting civil penalties for minor marijuana crimes. Most of these regulations fine under-20-gram marijuana possession $100.
Compassionate Use Registry
The state-run Compassionate Use Registry registers medicinal cannabis patients and ordering doctors. Law enforcement, clinicians, and medical cannabis retailers may use it to authenticate one’s permission to access, possess, and consume medicinal cannabis and its derivatives in Florida. Medical cannabis ID cards are required for Compassionate Use Registry participation. http://www.floridahealth.gov/programs-and-services/office-of-compassionate-use/compassionate-use-registry/index.html is the registry’s webpage.
FLORIDA LOW-THC CANNABIS QUALIFICATION
- Permanent Florida residents only.
- Cancer or a physical illness that causes prolonged seizures or severe muscular spasms is required.
- You failed other therapies.
- You need a doctor who thinks low-THC cannabis is worth the dangers.
- Your doctor must register you in the Compassionate Use Registry.
- You need a doctor who keeps a treatment plan including dosage, method, and duration. The doctor must monitor your disease and tolerance to low-THC cannabis and submit the plan to the University of Florida,
- College of Pharmacy quarterly for study.
- Your doctor must have treated you for three months before suggesting low-THC cannabis.
- A second doctor must approve low-THC cannabis usage for minors.
HOW TO QUALIFY AS A FLORIDA TERMINALLY ILL PATIENT FOR ALL CANNABIS
- Permanent Florida residents only.
- Your doctor must register you with the Compassionate Use Registry.
- Your doctor must certify to a terminal condition and a board-certified specialist must confirm it.
- You must have explored all FDA-approved terminal disease treatments.
- You need a doctor who thinks medicinal cannabis is worth the risks.
- An experimental medication, biological product, or technology requires written, informed permission.
- Your doctor must have treated you for three months before recommending medicinal cannabis.
- You need a doctor who keeps a treatment plan including dosage, method, and duration. The doctor must evaluate your disease and medicinal cannabis tolerance and submit the plan to the University of Florida,
- Faculty of Pharmacy quarterly for study.
- Your doctor must certify that you satisfy these conditions.
FLORIDA LOW-THC OR MEDICAL CANNABIS ID CARD APPLICATION
A licensed physician who recommends low-TCH or medicinal cannabis must put an eligible patient on the Compassionate Use Registry under the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act. Patients cannot register. State-approved doctors that may suggest patients for the Compassionate Use Registry are listed below.
FLORIDA LOW-THC OR MEDICAL CANNABIS ORDERING
Physicians may only prescribe low-THC or medicinal cannabis for qualifying patients under the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act. Patients cannot order low-THC or medicinal cannabis. A doctor may only order a 45-day supply and must update the Compassionate Use Registry. The Registry must record all cannabis delivery device orders from certified physicians. The following doctors may order low-THC or medicinal cannabis for approved patients.
Florida cannabis dispensaries
The Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act mandated the Department of Health to create and maintain a monitoring system for low-THC and medicinal cannabis from seed to sale. The monitoring system alerts users when cannabis seeds are planted, plants are harvested and destroyed, and low-THC or medicinal cannabis is moved, sold, stolen, diverted, or lost. Dispensaries may undertake all other activities and offer low-THC and medicinal cannabis to eligible patients 24 hours a day, however, they cannot dispense or distribute cannabis between 9 pm and 7 am.
The Florida Department of Health authorizes 6 dispensaries to grow, process, and sell low-THC and medicinal cannabis:
- Alachua-based CHT Medical
- Alachua’s Green Solution
- Gadsden County trust
- Hillsborough-based Surterra Therapeutics
- Modern Miami-Dade Health Ideas
- Knox Medical Orange County
See a map of Florida’s 6 recognized dispensing organizations and their state areas here.
*Dispensing organization approval applications concluded on July 8, 2015. Dispensing organisations cannot apply to the Department of Health. Here are redacted applications, scorecards, and applicant response letters.
Florida medical marijuana cultivation and possession
Low-THC and medicinal marijuana users cannot produce their own marijuana in Florida. Physicians must order cannabis from one of the state’s six regulated shops for authorised patients. Doctors may request a 45-day supply of low-THC or medicinal cannabis, which can only be sold, given, or transferred to qualifying patients or their legal representatives.
Low-THC or medicinal cannabis patients cannot consume or administer cannabis:
- Public transit
- Somewhere public
- State prisons
- if constrained by their job.
- Preschool, primary, or secondary school grounds
COMPASSIONATE MEDICAL CANNABIS
Florida’s Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act was approved on June 16, 2014, and revised on March 25, 2016. The Act lets doctors prescribe low-THC medicinal cannabis to people with specific ailments. Vaporizers may be ordered by doctors from licenced dispensaries, but smoking is not allowed. People cannot produce their own marijuana and must have a doctor register them on the Compassionate Use Registry and obtain their low-THC or medicinal marijuana.
FLORIDA BALLOT AMENDMENT 2
Amendment 2, the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Proposal, will be voted on November 8, 2016. United for Care filed 716,270 legal Florida voter signatures to put Amendment 2 on the ballot, over the “683,149” necessary. The proposal will dramatically extend Florida’s medicinal marijuana legislation if 60% of voters agree. Amendment 2 would enable medicinal marijuana for several conditions:
- cancer \sepilepsy \sglaucoma
- HIV PTSD (PTSD)
- ALS (ALS)
- Crohn’s
- Parkinson’s.
- multiple sclerosis or similar devastating medical conditions
Amendment 2: Marijuana for Debilitating Medical Conditions
Amendment 2 Ballot Summary: Permits licenced Florida physicians to prescribe marijuana for severe medical illnesses. Enables carers to aid marijuana patients. The Department of Health will register and oversee medicinal marijuana clinics and provide ID cards to patients and carers. Florida law only. Does not protect federal law offences or non-medical marijuana use, possession, or manufacturing.
Florida recreational marijuana laws
Marijuana recreational usage information follows. Florida medicinal marijuana laws are at FLORIDA MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAWS.
Florida has no recreational medicinal marijuana legislation. Regulate Florida failed to get The Florida Cannabis Act on the November 2016 ballot, which would have legalized up to one ounce of marijuana for 21-year-olds. The Florida Cannabis Act would have permitted up to six marijuana plants per household and regulated marijuana like alcohol. Regulate Florida said in December 2015 that it could not gather enough valid signatures to put the proposal on the 2016 ballot. Campaign manager Michael Minardi stated, “We had an uphill struggle, honestly with gathering a million signatures realistically from the end of August to December. We thought we could accomplish it with the momentum we had, but we don’t think we can.”