Access to full-strength medical marijuana for qualifying patients in Florida who arent dying may be even further off than supporters expected.
Amendment 2, which legalizes marijuana for patients suffering from a variety of ailments, was approved in November and technically implemented this month. The Florida Department of Health has six months to develop rules for putting the law into place and nine months to begin issuing ID cards to patients who qualify under the law.
However, a local attorney thinks it will take longer than the law allows to actually reach patients.
You would hope that folks would have been prepared for this, said Berger Singerman attorney Colin Roopnarine. It doesnt seem that there was that kind of preparation.
Health officials and the Florida Legislature have to implement a series of guidelines governing whether or not additional businesses can be approved to cultivate and distribute marijuana. The state also has to establish rules for growers and details on where and when dispensaries can operate.
The DOH plans to use rules in the Administrative Procedures Act to navigate the process rather than constitutional rulemaking. The former requires advance notice to the public for any meetings discussing the issue. The latter would be faster, but would give people concerned with the process less access to participation.
The Florida Legislature is also expected to debate its own rules in the upcoming session, which doesnt start until March more than three months after the six-month time clock began ticking.
Added to the extensive patchwork of elected leaders and health officials working to implement Amendment 2 is a bit of a precedent.
Florida lawmakers approved Charlottes Web, a strain of low-THC oil for patients who suffer from chronic seizures or cancer, in 2014. Those patients didnt have access to the drug until last summer because legal challenges continuously sent regulators back to the drawing board.
Thats a possibility [with Amendment 2,] Roopnarine said. But I would hope the state learned its lesson that there are people out there who could benefit from this.
There is some hope for patients eager to try a new treatment for things like PTSD, appetite loss, multiple sclerosis and others. The language in Amendment 2 is specific, according to Roopnarine.
If the state does not begin implementing the ID cards within nine months of the Jan. 3 implementation date, patients should be able to obtain the recommended marijuana without one. That is an argument that can be made and it would be a very good argument, Roopnarine said.
But whether or not the state would step in to stop that from happening, he couldnt definitively say.
If qualifying patients are blocked from obtaining medical marijuana after nine months, the only recourse would be to challenge the DOH for not meeting the required timeframe. If the department lost, it could be subject to paying hefty attorneys fees.
Though Roopnarine doesnt expect well-defined answers for doctors, patients, growers and dispensary owners anytime soon, he does offer some light. Patients can prepare by establishing a relationship with a physician certified to recommend medical marijuana. That relationship must go back at least 90 days before a doctor can legally recommend marijuana as a treatment.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Florida Medical Marijuana Delays Possible, Attorney Says
Author: Janelle Irwin
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Photo Credit: James MacDonald
Website: Tampa Bay Business Journal
