Don't the elderly deserve relief too?
Seidman: Parkinsons patient denied medical marijuana at Sarasota assisted living center
Don’t the elderly deserve relief too?
Joy Seligman spent her career as a registered nurse, committed to helping patients feel as comfortable as possible.
“I have always been interested in people being taken care of,” she says, sitting in a recliner in her room in the assisted living section of Aviva, a Campus for Senior Life, where she moved from independent living three years ago. “If they are in pain, I want them to get help.”
Now, at 94 and suffering from chronic pain from arthritis and the debilitating tremors of Parkinsons, Seligman is the one looking for compassionate care. But after a long wait for Florida’s legalization of medical marijuana — which has documented success as a palliative for both of her conditions — she is still without hope of relief.
This month, just days after Seligman’s 63-year-old son, Len, met with Aviva staff to provide documentation of his mother’s acceptance into the state registry, the facility issued a new policy stating it “does not support a client or resident’s right to use medical marijuana,” citing federal statutes that still consider marijuana illegal, as well their own “drug-free workplace policy.”
According to Teresa Martin, the administrator in charge of skilled nursing and assisted living, Seligman was the first Aviva resident to ask about medical marijuana, prompting the facility to scramble for advice from other organizations in the state, including the Florida Healthcare Association which advises member ALFs to “be cautious” on the issue.
The new policy was precipitously put in place for a number of reasons, Martin says, not least of which was the fear of losing, under the Trump administration’s tougher drug stance, the federal Medicare and Medicaid funding the facility receives. Other concerns included potential physical risks to residents, legal risks for the nursing staff and issues of storage and appropriate administration.
“We had to look at making a decision for our campus,” Martin said. “And we made the decision that we were not going to risk those gray areas of potentially putting residents and staff at risk and jeopardizing our funding.”
For Len Seligman, who guided his mother through the lengthy medical and paperwork process necessary to qualify for the registry and who became a certified caregiver himself to assist her, the decision has been a tremendous letdown. He and his mother have been discussing this avenue for relief of her pain for nearly six years.
“My sense is that though they would like to support her, they don’t want to step forward,” Len told me. “They are not aware of other ALFs in Florida doing it yet and nobody wants to be the first. Yet a lot of people with the greatest need are in these sorts of facilities.”
Marijuana is still banned by federal law, but has been approved for medical use in the District of Columbia and 29 states, including Florida, which passed a constitutional amendment establishing a medical marijuana program in 2016 on 71 percent ballot approval.
Nursing homes in several other states have devised ways to accommodate residents who qualify for medical marijuana; according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, none have yet lost financing or been penalized for doing so. At least a dozen ALFs in the state of Washington have formed medical marijuana policies in response to demands from residents and have even posted a template policy online.
But most assisted living facilities, like Aviva’s, still do not sanction marijuana’s use. Others have resorted to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that Joy Seligman wants no part of.
“I have always been very concerned that if I was going to try it, it needed to be open and above board, I would not do anything illegal,” she told me. “And apparently it’s going to be a fight. In fact, I don’t think I will have the opportunity to benefit from it at all.”
Instead, Aviva recommended the Seligmans investigate the possible use of marinol, a synthetic alternative to THC which has no documented effect on Parkinsons’ symptoms, and which was suggested by a psychiatrist who had not examined Joy Seligman. Len Seligman finds that a “highly unsatisfying solution, especially coming from someone who is not a Parkinsons’ expert.”
Jean Kramer, Aviva’s relatively new COO, says the organization will “keep looking at this issue and exploring further” but that at this time,“we’re not ready to move ahead.” Meanwhile, the Seligmans haven’t decided whether they will take the fight further.
Joy Seligman estimates it will take “10 years and the Supreme Court” to force a decision, a timeline she believes will likely outrun her own. Still, in her heart and soul, she’s still a nurse, dedicated to patients’ welfare.
“I don’t have the energy, but if it isn’t pursued, it’s not going to happen,” she says. “So if I can do something for the future, for someone else, I’d be happy.”
But why shouldn’t she also have the hope of quieting her tremors enough to write her name again? Why is she not entitled to relief from her pain, which ranges “from about 3 to 7 on a scale of 10” every day? A neurologist, a qualified medical marijuana physician and her primary care doctor all believe she is.
When I ask if she is currently taking anything for relief, she nods and says, “I’m taking a medication now — but I’d love to get off of it.”
Oh, what’s that, I ask.
She sighs before she answers.
“Oxycodone.”
Contact columnist Carrie Seidman at 941-361-4834 or carrie.seidman@heraldtribune.com. Follow her on Twitter@CarrieSeidman and Facebook at facebook.com/cseidman.
Lawmakers target Department of Health salaries and expenses after medical marijuana delays
Lawmakers target Department of Health salaries and expenses after medical marijuana delays
By: Jason Hackett
WPTV
Full Article Linked below
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Dr. Ahmed El-Haddad with Mari J MD Medical Marijuana says the rollout here in Florida has worked in some respects.
“The state of Florida is doing a good job regulating the dispensaries and regulating the access to make sure it's not going into the wrong hands," said El-Haddad.
It’s a system he says that still has a lot of room for improvement.
“It’s taking too long for (patients) to get approved and be allowed to go to the dispensary to pick up medical marijuana. For them to wait three to four weeks to get a card, when they can go get an opioid within two hours from their doctor … that to me is unacceptable.”
Backlogs have become a major issue, not just approval for patient identification cards, but also for growing and dispensing licenses.
It's gotten so bad that last October a legislative committee starting sending the Department of Health letters demanding answers.
Now, lawmakers are taking things one step further.
In the House's 2018 - 2019 budget proposal, an amendment would freeze $2.1 million in salaries and expenses until DOH fixes the issues.
State Rep. Jason Brodeur, who introduced the amendment, released the following statement to NewsChannel 5:
“The legislature has grown tired of hauling the office of compassionate use into their meetings to ask why they are not executing their legislatively prescribed duties. So now we are going to withhold salary and benefits until they respond to the 15 JAPC letters they have been sent since October 3rd, 2017. Regardless of any personal feelings about Amendment 2, it’s now law. A lot of us have worked very hard to craft responsible policy in our state and the office of compassionate use has undermined implementation at every turn. If we now put their salary and benefits of their executives."
El-Haddad says more funding for DOH could actually be the solution.
“There’s a high demand now, so you need to accommodate,” he says. “They should be pouring more money into this to get more employees so they could do the right thing.
The Florida Department of Health released the following statement to NewsChannel 5:
The Florida Department of Health’s priority continues to be ensuring patients have safe access to low-THC cannabis and medical marijuana, as determined by Florida voters and outlined by the Florida Legislature. Low-THC cannabis and medical marijuana has been and continues to be available for the more than 45,000 approved Florida patients. DOH has approved 27 dispensing locations, and delivery options from licensed MMTCs. There are also more than 1,000 qualified ordering physicians available to patients, and the processing time for identification cards continues to drop and is now down to under 30 days. Since July, DOH has licensed six additional MMTCs. This issue continues to be frequently litigated by special interests, but our focus will remain with Florida patients.
Dad who pushed for medical marijuana seethes at delays that make disabled daughters life harder
Dad who pushed for medical marijuana seethes at delays that make disabled daughters life harder
Miami Herald
Elizabeth Koh
TALLAHASSEE
When Seth Hyman first began to buy medical marijuana in Florida for his 12-year-old daughter last year, he hoped it would be the answer to fixing her life-threatening seizures.
A genetic disorder means Rebecca, who cannot walk or speak, had about a hundred seizures daily, from a few seconds to a few minutes long. But the Weston father, who began lobbying the legislature in 2014 when it passed an initial bill legalizing a limited form of medical marijuana, said the family faced hurdles even after Rebecca was approved to obtain the drug.
A limited number of growers has meant fewer varieties they can test to try managing Rebecca’s condition, and she still has around 50 seizures a day, Hyman said. Even the varieties that are available are in low supply — Hyman said the dispensary the family goes to recently issued a limit of two bottles, which would last about 40 days on the thrice-daily doses that are injected into his daughter’s feeding tube.
“With the current system, you’re very limited to the strains of product that are available,” said Hyman, who has been hired by a law firm specializing in medical marijuana cases. “Some patients can’t even get their medicine.”
Months after the legislature passed a law enacting a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana, patients say they are hampered by delayed regulations yet to be implemented by state health officials. The Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use, which is tasked with devising and implementing rules to implement the law, has blamed administrative challenges and lawsuits for the delays.
In recent weeks, lawmakers have become especially dissatisfied with those explanations. After a series of deadlines were missed and letters objecting to some rules went unanswered for months, lead legislators have called the office’s behavior disrespectful and are discussing yanking funds from the department as they assemble the state’s budget in the next four weeks.
But particularly frustrated are the patients’ parents, who lobbied the legislature for years to legalize medical marijuana in the first place.
“I’m certainly happy to see the legislature really, truly apply some pressure,” said political consultant Ben Pollara, who led the group behind the 2016 constitutional amendment. “Patients would like it, too. What they would like more is for [the department] to apply the law.”
When applications for identification cards to obtain medical marijuana were first opened, delays stretched for months at a time, Hyman said. “I know patients who had to wait 90 days-plus to get their card, or patients who waited 60 days and finally got an answer saying, ‘Oh, your picture’s wrong,’ ” he remembered.
Some regulations, such as those on new licenses for medical marijuana treatment centers, edibles or lab testing, also have yet to be implemented. Lawmakers have been asking for answers from the Department of Health regarding those delays, and since October, a joint legislative committee has sent more than a dozen letters objecting to rules on issues ranging from medical marijuana licenses to caregivers’ ID cards.
But the office did not respond to the letters until last Friday, when the Department of Health’s general counsel wrote that the committee’s objections might cause more delays with the next application cycle and some regulations.
Legislators were particularly incensed by that letter at the Joint Administrative Procedures Committee meeting Monday. Christian Bax, the agency’s head, sat mute while its members voted unanimously to object to some of its emergency rules.
Sen. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, a committee chair, called the lack of responsiveness insulting and told reporters that the legislature should consider targeting the office’s funding.
Legislators have already begun making moves to flex their spending muscle. Last week, Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, pushed an amendment in the House budget to freeze $2.1 million in salary and funds at the Department of Health. Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming, the powerful chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he agreed with the measure and added Wednesday that legislators were considering using “the power of the purse” to respond to the Department of Health’s inaction.
Department spokeswoman Mara Gambineri said the agency is working toward implementing all required regulations and that it plans to respond to legislators’ concerns in the 30-day window they are allowed.
“There is access to medical marijuana right now,” she said. “Patients are receiving medication, and every day we continue to process new applications… . Those parts and pieces are moving simultaneous to the rule-making progress we’re making.”
But the department is responsible for implementing those rules in a timely fashion, Pollara said. In the meantime, “the patients are the ones who are taking this on the chin.”
Some parents have already taken matters into their own hands. Moriah Barnhart, who helped push for medical marijuana after her daughter, Dahlia, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, said even though the application process has been open for months, she is still getting her daughter’s medical marijuana from out of state and has not applied for a card.
“I’ve never gotten a legal product from the state of Florida,” said Barnhart, citing the long wait time and cost of a card. “We really don’t have the means to obtain the meds Dahlia needs regularly.”
Barnhart said the legal route, though it now exists, is still out of reach for some who are too poor to afford the $75 identification card. She said the costs of strains grown in Florida are also higher by hundreds of dollars compared to those in other states, because of fewer growers and lower supply.
If rules had been established more quickly, “we would have everything — everything that was supposedly implemented to date would be implemented,” she said.
Florida, despite its successful legalization of medical marijuana, still does not provide sufficient access, she added.
“As much as I wanted this to work out, we just need to admit we are not where we are supposed to be.”
Elizabeth Koh: ekoh@miamiherald.com, @elizabethrkoh
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article199572629.html
Cancer
I’ve worked in politics and advocacy for quite a while, and yet it’s still amazing to me how some politicians so blatantly serve their own interests rather than the very dire needs of their constituents.
Case in point: If you have cancer in this state, while there is now a process for you to get a medical marijuana card and have access to a dispensary, that process is way too slow and overburdened by bureaucracy.
Once you do get a card, you will have to travel way too far to get access to a dispensary—a consequence of (illegally) slow licensing at the state level, and the immoral moratoriums that are blocking dispensaries at the local level.
For people with cancer, MS, and other painful conditions, the obstacles and obstructionists are leading to more suffering.
We are fighting for them, but we desperately need more resources to be effective.
Please help us continue the fight for patient access. DONATE HERE today.
Thank you,
Ben Pollara
Director, Florida for Care
Florida Politics: State to medical marijuana company: Stop selling vape pens
State regulators have told a South Florida medical marijuana provider to quit selling “unapproved” vape pens.
The Department of Health‘s Office of Medical Marijuana Use sent a “cease and desist” letter Monday to Curaleaf of Miami.
It also tells the company to stop “running unapproved advertisements encouraging (its) product to be used in a manner inconsistent” with state law.
Florida bans medical marijuana from being smoked, but does allow vaporizing, or “vaping.” Vape pens generally are battery-powered devices that heat the cannabis, allowing the user to inhale the vapor produced.
The state told Curaleaf, formerly called Costa Nurseries, that it had not yet OK’d its brand of vaporizer device.
Curaleaf is what’s known in Florida as a medical marijuana treatment center, or MMTC, a vertically-integrated operation that combines growing, processing and retail sales of medicinal cannabis.
Regulators also cited Curaleaf for “post(ing) an advertisement to its Facebook account (this month) displaying an open herb cartridge with the contents visible.”
“Not only was the Facebook advertisement detailed above not approved, it clearly encourages an improper use of the product,” the letter said.
“Licensed MMTCs have a responsibility to ensure their product is not one that could be easily transitioned into a smokable use.” The Facebook ad “must be removed immediately.”
Failure to comply “will result in a $1,000 fine to $10,000 fine per violation,” the letter adds, with further penalties including the loss of Curaleaf’s MMTC license.
The state gave Curaleaf 24 hours to respond in writing. A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
In a related matter, Trulieve this month filed a petition with the department, accusing the agency of dragging its feet on allowing that company to once again sell its own vaping devices after a similar cease and desist letter.
Trulieve says it’s been waiting since July for approval to offer ceramic vaporizer cups filled with ground marijuana flower.
By Jim Rosica
Read more: http://floridapolitics.com/archives/250237-stop-selling-vape-pens
Miami New Times: Miami Nursery Sues to Demand Florida Allow More Medical Pot Farms
After voters overwhelmingly legalized medical marijuana a year ago, Florida was supposed to issue ten new pot-growing licenses to nurseries by October 3. But the state has dragged its feet in implementing nearly every aspect of the law, from issuing cards to patients to passing basic regulations on who can smoke cannabis and when they can smoke it.
Now it's farmers' turn to be upset with Tallahassee. The state blew its October deadline to issue those new weed-growing licenses, and today a Miami-Dade-based grower, Bill's Nursery, sued the state in federal court to demand the Florida Department of Health (DOH) follow its own rules.
"The number of MMTCs [medical-marijuana treatment centers] currently operating in Florida has proven to be inadequate for a state so large in both population and geography," the nursery announced in a news release today. "The problem is exacerbated by the fact that different marijuana strains have varying effectiveness when treating different medical conditions, and the small number of MMTCs further limits the quantity and types of strains available to patients. Florida law required the DOH to issue ten additional licenses by October 3, 2017; yet the Department has failed to do so — an issue which patients say limits their access to lifesaving medicine."
by Jerry Iannelli
Read more: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-medical-marijuana-nursery-sues-florida-for-license-9848193
Entrepreneur: Doctors and Patients In Florida Are Embracing Medical Marijuana
While much of the marijuana news has focused on potential federal interference with legalized marijuana and California joining the ranks of legal recreational marijuana states, Florida has started what should become a mammoth medical marijuana business.
Projections vary on the size of the Florida market for medical marijuana but the consensus estimate is that it will exceed $1 billion by 2020.
Sales started this year and business has rapidly expanded across the state. A list kept by the state shows that more than 1,200 doctors have been authorized to prescribe medical marijuana. When voters approved legalized medical marijuana in November 2016, that number stood at fewer than 300. The state Office of Medical Marijuana is granting licenses to doctors at the rate of about 20 per day.
Sunshine State goldmine
It doesn’t take an MBA to understand the confluence of factors that make Florida a great spot for the medical marijuana industry.
The state is the third most populous in the country,with nearly 21 million people living there according to recent estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. And 19.1 percent of the population is 65 years old or older, according to the Pew Research Center.
The elder population is likely to grow as the nationwide population gets older over the next 20 years. Older patients are among the most likely to want medical marijuana for issues such as chronic pain management.
Explosion in popularity.
Much of the growth in the number of doctors prescribing marijuana is in South Florida, according to state numbers. The Miami-Dade County area alone has 208 authorized doctors. In the Tampa Bay area, another population center for the state, there are 196.
Dispensaries also are popping up all over the state. So are specialized clinics that help patients obtain a medical marijuana card, necessary to get medical cannabis prescriptions filled. The industry is growing so fast that Gov. Rick Scott decided in June to sign a law dispensing with the 90-day waiting period between a physician visit and obtaining a medical marijuana card.
However, there have been issues. The state has struggled to keep up with the demand. The Miami Herald detailed issues some have had in getting prescriptions filled, with some waiting months before getting their medical marijuana card.
Part of the problem is that the number of medical marijuana patients is expected to grow quickly from around 30,000 to about 500,000.
State laws
The state advises that now it will take about 30 days to get a card. A patient must first get a diagnosis of certain allowable conditions and then a prescription from a doctor. That information must be put into a registry with a state, which will then review the application and grant the card if all criteria are met.
In Florida, these are called Compassionate Use Registry Identification cards.
Residents of Florida are not allowed to grow their own medical marijuana. Also, only certain illnesses and conditions allow for the use of cannabis. They include cancer, ALS, Crohn’s Disease, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, chronic muscle spasm, seizures, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease.
By Dispensaries.com
Read more: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/299523
Palm Beach Post: Number of Florida pot patients doubles
Floridians are flocking to the state’s new medical marijuana program. More than 33,000 patients were registered to buy weed as of Aug. 23, up from fewer than 17,000 in early June, according to the state Department of Health.
The new industry already is moving in some unexpected directions. For instance, while Palm Beach County (population: 1.4 million) has no pot shops, The Villages, the heavily Republican retirement community in rural central Florida, has one dispensary and is about to get a second.
Trulieve operates a dispensary in nearby Lady Lake. And Liberty Health Sciences, another of the state-licensed cannabis providers, plans a location near The Villages, too. The company has signed a lease in Summerfield and is awaiting state regulatory approval to open, says George Scorsis, Liberty Health Sciences’ Florida head.
Scorsis says The Villages’ older demographic fits with the profile of patients who have medical issues that make them eligible for Florida’s pot program. And Scorsis says his own research shows residents of The Villages proved remarkably receptive to the notion of cannabis as medicine.
“We have done extensive time talking to patients,” Scorsis said. “I was amazed by how open the community was.”
By Jeff Ostrowski
Miami Herald: Trying to get a medical marijuana card soon? Don’t hold your breath
The cannabis boom is under way in Florida, and government is struggling to keep up.
Thousands of new patients have sought access to medical marijuana this summer following the passage of a new law expanding the list of maladies that qualify for treatment. Since June 7, the number of patients certified over the entire first three years of Florida’s fledgling cannabis program has nearly doubled from 16,760 to more than 31,000.
But patients are finding it’s one thing to receive a doctor’s certification, and another to receive the state-issued identification card needed to legally place an order. Doctors seeking state-required training through a new course that has yet to be offered are equally frustrated, leading to a growing feeling that the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use and its 12 employees — nine of whom are part-time — are simply overwhelmed.
“I’m not sure the state was prepared,” said Pete Sessa, chief operating officer of the advocacy-minded Florida Cannabis Coalition.
Right now, the average patient — who might suffer from cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s or other serious illnesses — waits 30 days after applying to receive a medical marijuana card. And that’s if everything goes according to plan.
Patients on Facebook message groups and frustrated doctors tell stories about unexplained delays, applications rejected on technicalities related to photos, and paperwork lost in the mail. Cory Young, a cancer survivor and former paramedic from the Florida Keys who suffers from neuropathy and post-traumatic stress disorder, said he waited on hold for hours over five frustrating weeks trying to find out what happened to his application and $75 money order.
At one point, he was told his application was incomplete because his physician began the process online and Young finished it by sending documents and payment in the mail. Last week, though, Young said he learned from an email that his card was being printed.
“Their system is absolutely broken,” he said.
The pace may be frustrating, but patients are slowly receiving their cards. As of Aug. 6, the state had awarded 12,226, according to a spokeswoman. And, even if patients have to wait a month, that’s still an improvement on the 90-day waiting period for new patients required by law as recently as June.
Still, physicians and patients say it’s unnecessary.
“I think it’s crazy that patients still are waiting four weeks to get their card. That’s ridiculous. And most of the time, they’re getting their card [applications] returned,” said Michelle Weiner, a South Florida Interventional Pain Management Physician qualified to issue marijuana recommendations. “I have cancer patients who are still suffering.”
by David Smiley
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article168778097.html
Orlando Weekly: Florida cities face 'all or nothing' choices on medical marijuana
Florida cities and counties are in a dilemma about pot.
State lawmakers approved regulations in June that left city and county officials with a Hobson's choice about the sale of medical marijuana in their communities.
Local governments can either impose outright bans on medical-marijuana dispensaries or allow unlimited numbers of marijuana retail outlets, under an “all or nothing” approach approved during a special legislative session.
Dozens of cities have approved or are considering temporary moratoriums on medical- marijuana dispensaries, but it's unknown exactly how many local governments have acted on the issue, because nobody —- including state health officials —- is officially keeping track.
Marijuana operators' search for retail space has bloomed after voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in November that legalized marijuana for a broad swath of patients with debilitating medical conditions.
The scramble for retail outlets is expected to intensify as the number of marijuana operators continues to increase, and as local governments seek ways to restrain the sales of cannabis in their communities, at least for now.
As another result of the legislation approved during the June special session, state health officials recently authorized five new medical marijuana operations, on top of the seven businesses already active in the state. Five more are supposed to come online in October.
Nearly 72 percent of voters approved the constitutional amendment last fall, making it difficult for local officials to close the door completely on the sale of medical cannabis.
But while saying they respect the will of voters, many local officials also want the power to regulate the number of dispensaries, and where the businesses can be sited, something that's essentially off the table in the new state law, which requires local governments to treat medical marijuana distribution centers in the same way pharmacies are handled.
Most cities and counties don't have special regulations regarding pharmacies, but instead treat them like other retail, or “light commercial,” businesses.
While some communities contemplate new zoning rules for pharmacies, a move that also could curb the development of marijuana dispensaries, others are focused on the cannabis retail outlets.
For example, St. Augustine Beach commissioners last week approved a moratorium barring medical-marijuana dispensaries from opening in the waterfront community.
“I think the main reason was just wanting to see how the situation is going to shake out and what sort of problems might occur with the sales of this stuff. There was no particular anxiety over it, but I think it's a fear of the unknown,” said Jim Wilson, a lawyer who represents the city. “We're a small community, and we'd rather see how this works elsewhere before we connect into it. It may work out fine later on.”
But Sen. Rob Bradley, who has been a key player in the creation and passage of the state's medical-marijuana laws the past three years, said the new regulations were meant to encourage competition in the state's burgeoning marijuana industry.
“I would encourage our local partners to see the bigger picture here. We are bringing online several new licenses over the next year-and-a-half. It's important for the long-term future of the medical marijuana industry that we have real competition among not only the incumbents but the new license holders,” Bradley, a Fleming Island Republican and former prosecutor, said in a recent interview. “If local governments were allowed at this point in time to restrict in their communities the number of dispensaries to only one or two or three, that would provide an unacceptable advantage to the incumbents.”
Regarding local officials' fears about what are disparagingly known as “pot shops,” Bradley said he thinks they may be uninformed.
“When I see some of the comments from local officials, I'm not sure that they've read the details of the law. We have strict limitations on advertising and signage, and all of these dispensaries are required to have a doctor's office feel,” he said.
The new restrictions imposed by the Legislature, paired with a push by marijuana operators to open retail facilities, create “an awkward situation for a lot of cities,” said John Wayne Smith, a lobbyist who represents numerous cities and counties as well as the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties.
While local governments are largely focused on budget issues during the summer, they may turn their attention to medical marijuana later in the year, Smith predicted.
Others may wait for the Legislature to revamp the state law.
“I would say that it's probably half-baked and this is probably an issue that is going to evolve and get tweaked over the next five to 10 years,” Smith said.
But the passage of the state-imposed prohibition on local governments' ability to limit the number of retail outlets poses a problem for cities like Lake Worth, which authorized two medical marijuana dispensaries before approving a moratorium aimed at preventing others from opening.
It's unclear, however, whether the new state law will require the city to open its doors to more dispensaries, an issue on which municipal lawyers are divided.
“
By doing a nothing or all, and because we already have two, this is what you've done to my city. Everyone around me has a moratorium, but you've now told my city it's a free-for-all,” Lake Worth City Commissioner Andy Amoroso told The News Service of Florida.
Amoroso stressed that he supports legalization of recreational marijuana and endorses the use of medical marijuana for sick patients. But he also emphasized that the state law “jeopardizes what our cities look like.”
Lake Worth is surrounded by other communities that have banned the sales of medical marijuana, meaning that retailers will likely target his city, Amoroso maintained.
Lake Worth officials need “to be able to control” what their 7-square-mile city “looks like,” Amoroso said.
“If I have medical marijuana on every corner, I can't do that,” he said.
But Orlando city attorney Kyle Shephard said he believes a moratorium recently passed by his commission will allow the city to stop any more medical-marijuana retail shops from opening.
“Every city attorney may answer this differently, depending on their own local situation,” Shepard told the News Service.
Orlando adopted its ordinance allowing up to seven medical marijuana dispensaries before the state law (SB 8-A) was passed, Shepard said. The city believes that means its ordinance won't be affected by the new law.
“If you didn't get your rules on the books before SB 8 went into effect at the end of June, then you are sort of hamstrung,” Shepard said.
Orange Park council members recently advanced an ordinance that would prohibit pharmacies from opening in “light” commercial areas —- something that wouldn't affect any of the drug stores currently in operation, according to Mayor Scott Land.
The town council approved the new regulation in response to the state law, which the mayor called “an all or nothing, almost.”
“So instead of doing the all, a lot of people are going to probably choose the nothing,” he said. “I think it's going to make it difficult for the dispensaries.”
by Dara Kam