marijuana licenses

State health regulators on Monday set in motion a process to issue up to 22 more medical-marijuana licenses. The highly anticipated move could double the size of Florida’s medical-cannabis industry.

State health officials deemed the application submitted by Moton Hopkins and Hatchett Creek Farms, of which he owned 51 percent, to be the cream of the crop. After he died, they decided to award the license to someone else.

President Joe Biden has pardoned thousands of people convicted of marijuana possession under federal law. He also instructed his administration to consider whether cannabis should get a new drug classification.

The Florida Department of Health is sticking with a plan to award marijuana licenses to growers through a lottery system. Lynn Hatter reports the…