A proposal to regulate Florida’s medical marijuana industry passed through its final committee stop Monday is now headed to the House floor, and it seems the measure only gets more and more restrictive as the weeks pass by.
The House Committee on Health and Human Services passed the proposal, HB 1397, sponsored by Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, by a vote of 14-4.
Pro-medical marijuana activists see the measure as a big step in the wrong direction for regulating medical cannabis in the Sunshine State and have routinely criticized the House proposal to regulate the state's booming medical marijuana industry. Meanwhile, anti-drug groups have thrown their weight into the measure, saying tight restrictions are necessary to prevent widespread abuse of the state's newest prescription drug.
The bill would create many limitations on medical pot in Florida and has been criticized by patients and advocates for being far too rigid to provide relief to so many suffering Floridians.
Not only would smokable cannabis be banned, but patients would also be barred from buying more than a 90-day supply of marijuana, edibles would be off-limits and “vaping” would only be allowed for terminal patients.
A new proposed committee substitute on the bill would stuff even more restrictions into the proposal, banning patients from consuming medical marijuana from devices not purchased at medical marijuana treatment centers (MMTCs) and prohibiting the use of medical marijuana by pregnant women, even if it was recommended by their doctor.
Banning pregnant women from ingesting medical marijuana has been a top priority for the Drug Free America Foundation, an anti-drug group which has praised Rodrigues’ bill as a necessary measure to regulate medical pot in the Sunshine State.
DFAF, backed by Republican mega-donor Mel Sembler, made headlines in 2014 and in 2016 for trying to squash Amendment 2 to legalize medical marijuana.
The group was successful in 2014 but failed to kill off the constitutional amendment last year. An overwhelming majority -- 71 percent -- of voters approved Amendment 2 last fall.
Now Drug Free America is back to make sure Florida doesn’t fall victim to the widespread “abuse” the group says runs rampant in places where medical marijuana is legal, like Oregon and Colorado.
Both states have legalized medical marijuana and recreational marijuana. Florida has only legalized medical marijuana for patients suffering "debilitating" conditions like HIV/AIDS, PTSD and forms of epilepsy.
Critics of Rodrigues’ proposal say they can't get onboard with the measure as it continues to distance itself from the Senate bill, SB 406, which they see as a much more amenable way to implement medical marijuana in Florida.
“I cannot support HB 1397 in any form,” said Florida For Care executive director Ben Pollara, one of the leaders in passing Amendment 2. “Negotiations are moving this bill even further from the Senate bill.”
Supporters of the bill say tight restrictions are necessary to make sure the implementation is done safely.
"If we are going to have medical marijuana, we need to have safeguards,” said Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, who voted in favor of the bill.
It appears Rodrigues and state reps could budge on some parts of the bill, however. Rodrigues said last week that vaping and edible marijuana would be up for negotiation with the Senate, leaving open the possibility of changing the bill at the last-minute to reach an agreement on medical marijuana.
Meanwhile, supporters of the measure say they have fears about the Senate’s version of the bill.
“We don’t want it to turn into a free for all where anybody that wants marijuana can get marijuana,” DFAF executive director Calvina Fay told Sunshine State News. “We don’t want it so broadly implemented that anybody and everybody can get it. We want to see it implemented in a tightly restricted responsible manner where it’s treated like a medicine rather than a recreational drug.”
The bill now heads to the Florida House floor for approval.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
