Surterra Wellness, the Atlanta-based company with medical cannabis dispensaries in Tampa and Tallahassee, on Monday asked the state to let it begin offering edible products in Florida. Voters last year overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment legalizing medical cannabis, and lawmakers passed legislation in June to implement the amendment.
It’s no secret that the Florida Department of Health could have handled implementing medical marijuana laws in the Sunshine State better, and it’s starting to look like they bungled it bad enough their outside private counsel – not patients in dire need of relief – are reaping the benefits on the backs of taxpayers.
If you had any doubts about the keen interest in medical marijuana in Florida, you don’t have to look any further than how quickly demand is outpacing supply.
A lawsuit filed Friday challenges the constitutionality of part of a new state law that requires a coveted medical-marijuana license to go to a black farmer.
A Homestead-based nursery is challenging a decision by state health officials to deny the grower a medical marijuana license. The Florida Department of Health last month rejected a request by Keith St. Germain Nursery Farms, which sought a license under a law approved this year.
A South Florida senator has filed the first bill in response to the deaths of eight nursing home residents this week after Hurricane Irma knocked out their air conditioning. Sen. Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat, filed the measure (SB 284) on Friday afternoon. Among other things, it would require the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) “to determine compliance with standards for electricity and emergency power sources during the routine inspection of a licensed nursing home facility.”
Florida Department of Health Celeste Philip dismissed Thursday one of the complaints surrounding Northside Hospital’s application to open a level II trauma center, but there’s still no decision on a challenge the hospital made after its application was rejected.