Thanks to nearly 75% of people in the state of Florida voting 'yes' to medical marijuana, legislators are now stumped with ideas to try and make it accessible throughout the state. Due to the concerns of abuse and commercialization of medical Marijuana, the lawmakers have delayed the bill for six months and the amendment would not be approved or added to the Florida Constitution until late 2017 or not until early 2018.
Amendment 2 summary
Amendment 2 states that only licensed caregivers and doctors within the state of Florida would allow the prescription and usage of the plants.
Doctors can apply for a license and certification course on prescribing medical marijuana to their patients. The same notion also applies to caregivers who are taking care of patients who are considered terminally ill or have a disease with no known cure. As more and more people sign up, the law part becomes the staple issue in how Florida would govern the sales of medical marijuana. The legal law in other states regarding these medical shops says that people over the age of twenty-one or older can buy these drugs. However, that does also pose a concern with people who can walk into a medical marijuana shop and purchase the drug without a prescription. The legislators suggested that they have a licensed medical marijuana card with the given condition that the consumer was diagnosed with to avoid abuse or people copying the identification in that person's name to obtain the drug.
So far, there are no shops installed or opened yet in Florida, but there are more people interested in growing the plants and becoming part of the distribution business.
Three options available
Legislators are given a deadline of July in the state of Florida to come up with how to control and regulate the drug being distributed and grown within the state.
So far they have come up with three variables on regulating medical marijuana. Here are the options:
- Option 1: Create a massive cannabis program with a different set of laws and a limited number of licenses available throughout Florida.
- Option 2: Do not expand or allow expansion into a large cannabis program and only allow those six nurseries which have been legalized in Florida to distribute and grow their products.
- Option 3: Have two different cannabis programs in Florida and provide no limitation on nurseries and licenses for those wanting to take part in the legalization of medical cannabis.
If we can come up with something that allows expansion and growth, hopefully, more and more people could find a way to generate money for the economy. Since Amendment 2 passed, there may be an opportunity for those with no money to find a way to be part of the growing cannabis business.