Florida’s medical marijuana program is pulling cards from patients and caregivers with drug-related criminal histories, restricting access for 20 registrants, with more bans on the way.
The House Health Professions & Programs Subcommittee heard from Bobbie Smith, the Director of the Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU), about efforts to enforce SB 2517.
The law was passed earlier this year.
Smith said the Department “identified 20 individuals that meet the new requirement for revocation, and there’s roughly 140 that we’re still monitoring as they make their way through the criminal justice system.”
The measure requires the Department of Health to “revoke the registration of the qualified patient upon such final disposition if the qualified patient entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or was found guilty of buying more than 10 grams” of various illegal drugs named in ch. 893, F.S. (the Florida Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act).
Anyone “who delivers, without consideration, 20 grams or less of cannabis” can also face punishment.
The same holds true for caregivers.
So-called “low-THC cannabis” is excluded from the law, along with hemp. But it includes Delta-6, -8, -9, and -10 and “synthetic cannabinoids.”
Florida’s program, which had more than 925,000 patients as of the end of September, continues to grow despite this provision, adding roughly 30,000 new patients this year.
