Whether Medicaid expansion will ever come to Florida is far from certain. But after more than a year in the works, one health fight finally appears settled.
Florida’s Department of Health is rolling out its framework for low THC medical marijuana after a judge ruled in its favor last week. An Apopka nursery called Baywood challenged the proposed regulations in April. It argued among other things that the application fee was too high, and financial reporting requirements were too onerous.
But Executive Director Holley Mosely of the medical marijuana advocacy group Realm of Caring is happy to see the program moving forward.
“Excited is not even the word,” Mosely says. “You know when you wait for something, and when you work so hard for something, and for it finally to feel like it’s really going to happen? It’s just, it’s just kind of a special feeling.”
The rules include language allowing applicant nurseries to set up a separate businesses to handle marijuana cultivation. Some nurseries pushed for this provision as a way to protect their existing banking relationships.
Rules go into effect in mid-June, and the department will be accepting applications from nurseries through early July.
