It’s been a little over a week since state lawmakers reached an impasse over legislation to regulate medical marijuana, but one state lawmaker is helping lead the charge to tell legislators their work with medical cannabis isn’t over just yet.
On Friday, Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, penned a letter to Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, calling for a special session to create legislation to implement Amendment 2 in Florida.
“I hope that we can reconvene in a Special Session, which should include ample time for public input, to implement the will of the voters, so that patients and entrepreneurs alike may access the marketplace,” Brandes wrote.
In the letter, Brandes says lawmakers should avoid vertical integration and instead support “horizontally integrated framework” to “provide flexibility” and support competition to drive down product price and “maximize consumer choice.”
The St. Petersburg Republican said Florida should avoid “arbitrary limitations” on the number of medical marijuana treatment center (MMTC) caps.
“The appropriate number of MMTC licenses should be determinant upon market demand,” wrote Brandes.
Brandes spearheaded a bill during the 2017 legislative session which would have essentially gutted the state’s current regulatory system and start anew.
The Senate ultimately did not choose to take up Brandes’ proposal, instead supporting SB 406 from Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island.
“While the Legislature took a different approach than the measures I proposed, I believe we can benefit from revisiting some of this proposed legislation’s core principles to promote an open and competitive marketplace,” Brandes said.
Brandes isn’t the only state lawmaker to say he’d support a special session.
Calls for lawmakers to come back for another go-around at the legislation have come from both sides of the aisle and are only growing louder by the day.
House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, said earlier this week he wanted lawmakers to hammer out a solution as soon as possible.
“I believe there should be a special session on medical marijuana,” he said.
Senate President Joe Negron began soliciting “ideas” from state lawmakers on how to proceed with legislators’ “constitutional obligation to implement Amendment 2.”
Like Brandes, other senators quickly began responding, saying “yes” to the suggestion.
“I agree with @richardcorcoran,” Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, wrote earlier this week. “I support a special session to address medical marijuana implementation.”
“I think it's pretty certain that a special session will happen,” Brandes’ legislative aide Chris Spencer told Sunshine State News Friday. “A lot of people are calling for it in both chambers and both presiding officers have said they're open to it.”
State lawmakers couldn’t reach an agreement over a legislative proposal to regulate medical cannabis in time for the end of the legislative session, which had already been extended until Monday.
Sources close to the legislative process told Sunshine State News one of the real enemies of passing the legislation ended up being the group which had worked so hard to approve Amendment 2 in the first place: United For Care and its legislative arm, Florida For Care.
It was Florida For Care, they said, which pushed the issue of limiting the number of dispensaries for growers at the last minute in order to force the state to issue more licenses to get rid of medical marijuana “cartels," the original seven growers allowed to dispense the drug across the state.
At the 11th hour, insiders said, Florida For Care lobbyists Frank and Tracy Mayernick put pressure on Senate President Joe Negron over the cap numbers to ultimately force the state to issue more licenses and break up the seven original medical cannabis growers.
The House retreated to a position of having 100 caps, but Negron wouldn’t budge.
Without a final vote, lawmakers sent HB 1397 to the legislative boneyard.
Sources close to Senate leadership said Galvano’s call for a special session was especially critical and an indicator that senators felt Negron may have been too quick to disagree with the House bill to regulate medical marijuana, thus killing off the legislation.
A special session has yet to be called.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
