Florida Awards Two More Medical Marijuana Licenses

The Sunshine State’s medical marijuana program continues to expand as Florida awards two more medical marijuana licenses this week. The program has seen explosive growth throughout the summer. New patients, doctors, and now businesses are adding their names to the program’s rosters.

More Medical Marijuana Businesses in Florida

This week, officials from the Florida Department of Health gave licenses to two new cannabis businesses. One of the newly-licensed businesses is called Sun Bulb Company. The other is Treadwell Nursery, which is owned by GST Enterprises.

Florida gave out new licenses last week as well. Plants of Ruskin and 3 Boys Farm were both approved for business last week. Both of those companies are based in Ruskin, Florida.

Now that these businesses have received licenses, they have 30 days to officially request permission to begin growing weed.

The licenses awarded both last week and this week bring the total number of companies in the state that have licenses to grow, process, and distribute weed up to 11.

The new licensing activity by the Department of Health is part of the state’s focus on expanding its medical marijuana program.

Florida’s Expanding Medical Marijuana Program

Medical marijuana has been a hot topic in Florida recently. The state first launched a medical cannabis program in 2014. The program was part of the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act.

Then, last year, Florida voters approved an Amendment that was designed to significantly expand the original program. The change had widespread approval, winning more than 71 percent of the vote.

Since the vote, there has been some controversy. In particular, smokable cannabis was banned, even under the new rules. Many in the medical marijuana community argued that this made the program too restrictive.

In fact, lawyer John Morgan sued the state in July over the ban. He argued that smoking is one of the most effective ways for patients to use medical cannabis.

Despite the controversy, the medical marijuana program has been growing rapidly. In fact, since June more 10,000 new patients have signed up. Similarly, more than 130 new doctors have joined the program.

And now, as Florida awards two more medical marijuana licenses, the business side of the program is also growing.

Final Hit: Florida Awards Two More Medical Marijuana Licenses

All this growth isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon. In fact, as part of the Amendment that was approved last year, the state is required to issue five more licenses before October 1.

At the moment, there is also one more approval still in the works. After that one goes through, and after the state issues its five remaining licenses, the state will have 17 up and running cannabis businesses.