If you want medical marijuana done right in Florida, you have to like the obsessive pickiness of a little-known but important legislative committee.
Rep. James W. Grant's Joint Administrative Procedures Committee (JAPC) tapped the brakes, played it safe and scrutinized every inch of the Department of Health's rules for allowing the cultivation and dispensing of low-THC cannabis in Florida.
If you haven't had a look at the 19-page, hole-picking letter from the committee to the Department of Health's general counsel,here it is.
Grant -- a Tampa Republican, an attorney and vice chairman of the JAPC -- deserves a pat on the back for this, for making sure the bases are covered, that the rules square with Florida law and the committee has anticipated possible legal challenges as well as it can.
Most of all, I agreed with Grant's assessment in Dara Kam's News Service of Florida story that the process so far has ignored the most important part for patients -- "creating data sets" and coding information about how well combinations of THC and CBD perform.
What happens if, or when, voters approve Amendment 2? We've wasted precious time in helping provide a framework for health regulators. Not a word from a single potential licensee about working with the Florida Medical Association.
If Amendment 2 passes, let's hope leaders in the Legislature will call for a select committee on implementation.
And tort reform. Doctors have to feel comfortable recommending this "experimental drug." Without it, as soon as the first medical marijuana patient dies and a doctor is slapped with a lawsuit, watch family physicians back off cannabis like a vampire from a crucifix. And who could blame them?
The committee is expected to draw a standing-room-only crowd of mostly lobbyists, their clients and health and agriculture consultants at its all-day session starting at 9 a.m. today in Room 152 of the Betty Easley Conference Center on Esplanade Way. This will be the last chance for the Department of Health to explain its rules before applications for licenses are filled out.
The city is crawling with lobbyists representing growers, and it has been for several weeks now.
A disturbing and, frankly, unpalatable wrinkle: Look around today for some of the same families of sick children you saw in committee meetings during the last session -- only this time, you'll see them profiting from their children's illness -- employees of lobbyists and lawyers and cannabis empire builders.
Seth Hyman, for instance, seen with his severely epileptic daughter Becca in emotional committee meetings during the winter, has gone to work for the Kelley Kronenberg law firm in Plantation, a prime player in this game of hooking clients up with licenses.
And, remember the Moseley family from Gulf Breeze -- Peyton, Holley and their daughter RayAnn? They now are part of the Colorado Charlotte's Web operation by virtue of merging their nonprofit, Caring 4 Florida, with the Colorado-based Realm of Caring to become Realm of Caring Florida. Holley is the new executive director. Peyton, meanwhile, sold his landscaping business to become a salesman in the day-to-day operations of a for-profit arm of the concern, Ray of Hope 4 Florida, which works to partner with one of five nurseries statewide to cultivate and process medical marijuana.
One forgotten facet in all this: How much a patient will pay for this drug. Why isn't anyone asking? Insurance isn't going to cover medical marijuana. So, shouldn't the cost to patients be a part -- a bargaining chip, even -- in the awarding of a license? Shouldn't it be on the application? I haven't heard a single grower add up the cost of implementing all the regulations and coming up with a realistic, carefully worked out set of charges for patients.
On the other hand, if all growers who qualify go into a lottery, little things like price are destined to be afterthoughts. I guess we can work out cost to patients later ...
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
