Florida medical cannabis bills make for hazy business climate

Medical marijuana isn’t shaping up to be the big business opportunity in Florida many cannabis executives were hoping for.

Although medical marijuana was approved overwhelmingly by Florida voters in November, the shape of the MMJ industry is still very much in question. And state lawmakers don’t appear to be moving toward any kind of solution.

A whopping six bills are competing in the Florida Legislature, the Sun Sentinel reported, and each would set up a regulatory framework for medical cannabis businesses. The measures all have varying provisions that range from allowing just 12 MMJ producers for the entire state to an unlimited number of cannabis business licenses.

According to the Sun Sentinel, there’s no consensus among state lawmakers as to which bill will ultimately win out. It’s possible none will be approved, in which case the legislature may end up passing the responsibility for regulating the industry to the state department of health.

If that happens, the newspaper reported, “The department has already signaled that it would likely keep much of the current state law in place, resulting in a regulatory scheme potentially even more restrictive than anything offered by the Legislature.”