On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 182 into law, giving medical marijuana patients the right to smoke cannabis flower. While it will take a little bit more time for regulators to adjust to the change, with Florida\u2019s booming cannabis industry and all the pot already growing there, it will likely be sooner than later.<\/p>\n
The battle for access to smokeable cannabis has been waging in the Sunshine State for years. Florida voters approved a medical marijuana law in 2016, but then regulators released rules that limited access to the cannabis flower. Advocates sued then-Gov. Rick Scott and lower courts found<\/a>\u00a0that the lack of access was unconstitutional and not what Florida voters had in mind when they voted for legal medical marijuana. The state appealed the ruling, but it\u2019s all in the past now. On Monday, DeSantis filed a joint motion to toss the case that has no need to see Florida\u2019s higher courts.\u00a0In a statement<\/a>\u00a0he released after signing the bill Monday, DeSantis reminded everyone he had previously called on elected officials to bring him the bill in January.<\/p>\n \u201cOver 70 percent of Florida voters approved medical marijuana in 2016,\u201d said DeSantis. \u201cI thank my colleagues in the legislature for working with me to ensure the will of the voters is upheld. Now that we have honored our duty to find a legislative solution, I have honored my commitment and filed a joint motion to dismiss the state\u2019s appeal and to vacate the lower court decision which had held the prior law to be unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the patients at the heart of the story about SB 182 becoming law is Cathy Jordan. After the bill became law, the\u00a0Miami Herald<\/a>\u00a0recapped the long road Jordan traveled to legally smoke her medicine. Jordan was originally diagnosed with Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease in 1986 and given five months to live.<\/p>\n Jordan had considered taking her own like before she tried cannabis for the first time and found relief for her symptoms. \u201cI didn\u2019t believe her,\u201d Jordan\u2019s husband Bob told the Herald. \u201cBut as we got more aware of it, we found out when she has cannabis she\u2019s better. And when she doesn\u2019t have it, she\u2019s sick.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Jordan\u2019s advocacy made her a target. Not long after the legislature saw a medical marijuana bill named for her was filed in the Florida statehouse, the Manatee County Sheriff raided her home, confiscating 23 plants. Nobody went to jail that day, but Jordan\u2019s medicine was gone.<\/p>\n That tragedy would act as the catalyst for the Jordans to get in touch with Orlando, Florida attorney John Morgan. Morgan\u00a0would lead and bankroll much of the effort<\/a> to legalize medical marijuana, and then to legalize smoking it.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the sick and injured [it means] an alternative to opioids and pharmaceutical poison. Taken all together it means hope, safe wellness and victory for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Morgan spoke with his hometown paper, the\u00a0Orlando Sentinel<\/a>,\u00a0on the big victory. \u201cIt means the will of the people has been heard,\u201d Morgan told the paper in an email. \u201cFor the sick and injured [it means] an alternative to opioids and pharmaceutical poison. Taken all together it means hope, safe wellness and victory for the people. My job is now done.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sentinel\u00a0also reported<\/a>\u00a0there are currently 108 dispensaries in Florida and the state has received more than 250,000 patient applications according to data provided by the Florida Department of Health\u2019s Office of Medical Marijuana Use.<\/p>\n Finally, the Sentinel noted people are a bit hesitant to light the fireworks at Epcot yet in celebration. The state hasn\u2019t even found a way to regulate edibles yet, and some fear the prospects for smokeable marijuana will fall into a similar void. Nevertheless, others believe that with DeSantis backing the effort, regulators will move faster to release the rules.<\/p>\n The Department of Health didn\u2019t respond to inquiries on when smokable pot would be legal for purchase, but one dispensary spokeswoman told The Sentinel she was hoping in a week.<\/p>\n The Marijuana Policy Project told Cannabis Now that DeSantis\u2019s signing of SB 182 was a good move for patients.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a very positive development for patients, who should have the option of using whatever form of cannabis is best for them,\u201d said MPP spokesman Mason Tvert. \u201cSome find smoking is the best way to titrate their dosage and ensure they are consuming their medication in the most effective and cost-efficient way. While smoking may not be recommended for some patients, such as those with certain respiratory problems, it may be perfectly suitable for others. There was never any reasonable justification for prohibiting it across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, what do you think about cannabis laws that don\u2019t allow for smoking cannabis?<\/p>\n The post Smoking Medical Marijuana Is Now Legal in Florida<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 182 into law, giving medical marijuana patients the right to smoke cannabis flower. While it will take a little bit more time for regulators to adjust to the change, with Florida\u2019s booming cannabis industry and all the pot already growing there, itContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,388,687,53,415,9380,6897,9381,4443,4936],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33803"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33804,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33803\/revisions\/33804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Smoking Medical Marijuana Is Now Legal in Florida<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"