Florida Nurseries Sue to Stop CBD Production

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(This story has been corrected to reflect that the lawsuit is not seeking to bring the entire program to a halt but wants a court to order three of the five nurseries to pause production.)

Three companies have filed suit to prevent most of Florida’s CBD program from moving forward until ongoing legal issues over the licensing process are resolved.

The lawsuit was filed by San Felasco Nurseries, 3 Boys Farm Company and McCrory’s Sunny Hill Nursery, according to the Orlando Sentinel. None of the three were among the five license winners announced last November – but one of them is part of a separate lawsuit challenging the state on its decisionmaking process for awarding permits.

The new lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in Leon Circuit Court, asks that the state be required to hit pause on three of the five licensees until the legal challenges run their course. That would mean further delays for the state’s CBD program, which has already been delayed multiple times.

One of the licensees, Costa Farms, has already resolved all challenges and could still move forward with production even if the suit succeeds. But all five companies that won licenses are currently preparing to start growing cannabis for us in CBD products.

Last week, a campaign to enact a broader medical cannabis system in the state qualified for the 2016 ballot. So if the challenges or the lawsuit are successful in throwing up another roadblock, the state may be working on infrastructure for an even bigger MMJ industry before its CBD licensees have a chance to get up and running.