Florida’s Medical Marijuana Amendment: What Happens Next?

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Floridians eager to be able to use medical marijuana to treat debilitating health conditions won big victory at the polls Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean doctors will start writing prescriptions any time soon.

Before the first prescriptions are filled, the state of Florida needs to create the rules for how the program will be implemented and regulated. That process won’t begin until March at the earliest, lawmakers say. The amendment technically goes into effect in January 2017.

Florida voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 2 during the Nov. 8 election. The amendment, in fact, garnered just over a 71 percent approval rating, soundly surpassing the required 60 percent approval state law requires for constitutional amendments to pass.

The outcome of the vote was good news for those who faced a slim margin of defeat when a similar proposal was floated in 2014. The original attempt only managed to get a 57.6 percent approval rating.

Strongly backed by the group United for Care and prominent Florida attorney John Morgan, the 2016 measure enables people with debilitating medical conditions, like cancer, epilepsy, AIDS and Crohn’s disease to legally obtain marijuana to treat their conditions. The Florida Department of Health will ultimately be responsible for regulating the medical marijuana program and providing oversight for distribution and patient identification cards.

“There is still a lot of work to do,” United for Care campaign manager Ben Pollara was quoted by WKMG Orlando as saying. “There are still a number of clear and present conflicts between the current statute and the amendment. However, it is nothing that can’t be worked out.”

The new law is intended to broaden the medical marijuana program Florida already has in place. It is expected to expand availability of marijuana for medical purposes while also providing for marijuana's use in different strengths and forms, according to Morgan. The current law only allows patients to use non-smoked, low-THC. It is only allowed for use in the most severe conditions, such as cancer.

“There is a world out there in Florida, we estimated four to five hundred thousand really, really, really sick people who benefit day one,” Morgan said in a press conference following the amendment’s passage.

Just how soon rules for the program will be put into place remains unclear. Morgan’s firm, Morgan & Morgan, however, has indicated backers are looking forward to “working with the Florida legislature to iron all the details of the program,” according to the firm’s website.

Image via Shutterstock