FL Lawmakers May Allow MMJ For Terminal Patients

Florida lawmakers have revived a bill to expand the state’s CBD industry by allowing terminally ill patients to use full-strength medical cannabis, which would provide a boost for licensed businesses.

The state’s current law, passed in 2014, permits only allows high-CBD, low-THC marijuana oils, artificially limiting the market. The proposed new law, revived this week, would allow Florida’s five licensed producers to sell higher-THC medicine to patients with less than a year to live.

The bill – introduced last November at the behest of African-American nursery owners who say they were unfairly excluded from the licensing process – sought to expand the number of licensed cultivators to 20. But a new amendment reduces the number back to five.

A state House subcommittee passed the bill Monday, moving it one step closer to a floor vote.

A Senate version of the bill is ready for a vote in that chamber.

Meanwhile, the state’s CBD program is struggling to get up and running, and a ballot measure to bring a much larger MMJ program to the state will go before voters this coming November.