Gov. Scott signs medical marijuana plan

In a long bureaucratic battle, Florida patients finally won as Governor Scott signs the medical marijuana bill that 71% of voters approved of 7 months ago. The bill outlines how many marijuana licenses will be available and how many retailers can be operated with them, as well as the qualifying conditions for medical marijuana like cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, and post-traumatic stress disorder, to name a few. When voters passed the bill it allowed for smokable marijuana, but legislators chose to nix that clause and passed an amendment allowing only non-smokeble forms of the medical marijuana, leaving far less options for patients. One Orlando lawyer is fighting on behalf of Florida patients and trying to once again add in smokable forms of marijuana to the new law. 

Lawmakers passed the bill (SB 8-A) during a special session this month after struggling to reach agreement on an implementation plan for the medical marijuana constitutional amendment, which 71 percent of voters approved in November.

It appears likely, however, that Orlando lawyer John Morgan, who largely bankrolled the constitutional amendment, will challenge part of the bill that bars people from smoking medical marijuana. The bill would allow vaping and other methods of marijuana use.

″(Smoking) clearly was called for in the amendment, and so what they’ve done for me is allowed me to step back up on my soapbox and go get what the people of Florida wanted when they passed this bill with 71 percent,” Morgan told The News Service of Florida this month.