“There is no logical basis for the prohibition of marijuana.”
Economist Milton Friedman, Costs of Marijuana Prohibition
June 2, 2005
I recently attended the Cannabis Professional Advancement Series in Miami, FL, where I discussed why I believe that Guardians of patients with horrific diseases, such as MS, ALS and cancer, should be allowed to grow medical marijuana for the Ward. Florida has a law that allows people charged with possession to proactively petition the probate court for approval of a medical guardianship that allows the guardian to produce, cultivate and dispense medical cannabis in any form beneficial to the Ward.
During my presentation, I established the qualification for the medical necessity affirmative defense. I sincerely hope that this will shield patients from prosecution, armed with a court order establishing medical necessity for cannabis possession and use. Such an order theoretically protects the patients and the guardians from prosecution using the same standards required for them to establish a medical necessity affirmative defense, which usually only happens after a prosecution is underway. Existing federal law is in compliance with Florida state law, after receiving an Order from the state court probate judge and is a micro regulatory scheme in compliance with the omnibus funding bill. This bill is very important because it does not allow any money to be spent prosecuting legal cannabis use in compliance with state law.
The conference covered many important issues regarding marijuana. Robert Hoban opened by comparing medical and retail marijuana, the legal role for each, and he also explained model programs. The conference also included topics such as banking and cash management, lab testing, human resources and employment law issues, real estate, licensing, and compliance within different jurisdictions. Galina Urman discussed the current state and future of cannabis real estate in Florida, i.e. the conditional use vs. permitted use, zoning letters from the Planning Department, and commercial landlord/tenant liability issues.
Daniel Sparks discussed how to track marijuana from seed to sale and explained how compliance operates for government regulation. The reality of running operations within a regulatory environment was also discussed, including federal interventions, banking, auditing, cash management, and taxes. Financial issues such as offerings, crowdfunding, the JOBS act, legal requirements, review of the line between services and financial interest, ethics, and risks for investors was discussed in detail.
Two years ago, medical marijuana (Amendment 2) won 58% approval in Florida. The amendment requires 60% to pass per the Florida Constitution. The language that will be on the ballot this November will be similar to what was on the ballot in 2014. Doctors can prescribe medical marijuana if they believe that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient. Just like last year’s amendment, this leaves the door wide open for interpretation as to what is a “debilitating medical condition” and many elderly people are afraid everyone will be able to get it and more traffic accidents will occur. Some elderly people in Florida do not understand that marijuana is a very medicinal plant, but many with chronic pain are hoping it becomes legal so they can try it.
Florida’s new Amendment 2 will allow all licensed physicians to determine whether or not medical marijuana will help their patients. That is how it should be, because the government does not have the expertise to make this decision and the doctor does. If the doctor believes that medical marijuana in any form is a better insomnia treatment than Ambien, who is the government to say otherwise? If the doctor feels that medicine made from CBD will work better for Dravet’s Syndrome than other medications, how would the government know what is best for the patient?
SB 460 expanded a 2015 law known as the “Right to Try Act,” which allows terminally ill patients to have access to experimental drugs that have not been FDA-approved for general use. The Right to Try Act allows patients to try any medicine that has passed the first phase of an FDA clinical trial, but has not been approved for general use by the FDA. Patients with terminal conditions would have access to the experimental drugs, and the bill would provide liability protections to doctors and drug manufacturers.
When Gov. Rick Scott signed the Compassionate Cannabis Act in 2014, the intention was to get low-THC marijuana into the hands of families to treat childhood epilepsy by January, 2015. More than a year later, the medicine is still not on the market. The 5 distributing organizations were named months ago, but time consuming challenges to their licenses are pending before the Division of Administrative Hearings. Three nurseries filed a lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court against the Department of Health and the approved nurseries seeking an injunction against moving forward with operations until a final decision is made.
There are many families all over the United States with young children that suffer from such severe epilepsy that they require brain surgery to try to stop the seizures. If that fails, they try all legal medications available on the market, and sometimes none of them work. With 6-8 months of medicine made from the CBD found in cannabis, a child can be virtually seizure free, as long as the child does not live in Florida or one of the other conservative states that has not recognized that marijuana cures many diseases.
Florida is having tremendous difficulty carrying out a 2014 law that allowed limited types of non-euphoric cannabis for children with severe forms of epilepsy. The substances remain unavailable because of a legal fight concerning the selection of five nurseries that will receive licenses to cultivate, process and distribute medical cannabis. The 2014 law included the five-nursery limit, with one licensee in each of five regions of the state. Senator Jeff Clemens and Senator Joseph Abruzzo proposed amendments to Bradley’s bill that could have moved away from the regulatory structure set up in the 2014 law.
Clemens proposed an amendment that would have allowed 30 nurseries to be selected as dispensing organizations. Clemens argued that the 2014 law had created 5 “regional state monopolies” and that legal battling over the handful of licenses had led to delays in making the low-THC marijuana available to patients. The amendments were rejected because the state did not want to allow 30 nurseries to be involved. This makes no sense to me since Florida is a very large state. Having nurseries that parents have to drive 100+ miles to get to makes no sense, nor does it make sense to give any 5 companies a monopoly over medical marijuana. If that happens, they will make the price very high and there will be no competition to make it affordable for the patients who desperately need it. The amendments by Abruzzo and Clemens to increase the number of distributing organizations from 5 to 30 were voted down in committee. Clemens’ proposed amendment to make farmers or “anyone engaged in a similar agricultural activity” eligible to cultivate and distribute medical marijuana was also rejected.
It is critical for Florida to develop a system for medical cannabis distribution to patients without creating a license for abuse. Sick people who need medicine are not going to be able to pay the prices set by a monopoly or oligopoly, and this just gives nursuries a chance to exploit patients. It is also critical to convince the Florida Police Force not to waste time arresting people for possessing a joint and instead give them a citation to raise state revenue. To date, no citations have been issued in Broward County even though possession of less than 20 grams was “decriminalized” last year.
No U.S. citizen should have to hire an attorney to defend him for possessing and using a tiny amount of marijuana, but it is happening here in south Florida. Unfortunately, Broward County cannot decriminalize an illegal drug, and police officers still have the option to treat the offense as a misdemeanor crime if they choose to do so. The only safe place to smoke or vape marijuana is at home. Smart police officers are ignoring cannabis users and focusing on the opiod problem and DUI problem. Many people have died from DUI accidents, pain pills, heroin, and fentanyl, but nobody every overdosed on cannabis. Eighty-three year old country star Willie Nelson is still playing his guitar and singing “All the whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennesee just couldn’t hit the spot. I’ve got a hundred dollar bill, you can keep your pills friend, it’s all going to pot.”