Florida Lawmakers Vote to Expand CBD Law

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Florida lawmakers have given a final thumbs-up to a bill that would expand the state’s limited CBD program and create a handful of new business opportunities.

If Gov. Rick Scott signs the new bill into law, qualified patients could use full-strength MMJ instead of only low-THC marijuana, as the 2014 CBD law permits.

The measure would also allow the state to authorize three more dispensing organizations once the registered patient count hits 250,000.

But it’s still a very limited program, and only those who have a year or less left to live could use high-THC medical cannabis.

The existing CBD law allows for just five growers and producers.

Some observers say lawmakers see the bill as a way head off a medical cannabis ballot measure this November that could create an even bigger MMJ market in the state.

Pen Pollara – campaign manager of United for Care, the organization behind the November MMJ ballot measure – called the new law “more lipstick on the pig that is Tallahassee’s ‘medical marijuana’ law,” according to Floridapolitics.com.

United for Care’s initiative, meanwhile, would enact a much broader MMJ industry; physicians would be able to recommend MMJ for nearly any ailment they believe could be helped by cannabis, and there would be no limit on the number of business licenses to be issued.

The 2014 CBD law was viewed by many at the time as an attempt by legislators to undercut Amendment 2, the MMJ ballot measure that failed by a narrow margin later that year.