Marijuana Reform a Mess in Florida


April 7th, 2015

News


A medical marijuana bill is on the fast track to move forward in the Florida state legislature. The bill, SB 7066, hopes to fix some of the problematic wording in a 2014 bill, SB 1030, which legalized a low-THC high-CBD strain of medical marijuana called Charlotte’s Web for patients suffering from debilitating seizures.

Ever since SB 1030’s passage, implementation of the act has been held up by litigation. The bulk of the lawsuits have come from would-be marijuana growers, many of whom take issue with the strict requirements for potential growers.

Chief among these complaints is the stipulation that in order to be eligible to grow marijuana, one has to have owned a farm/nursery for over 30 years in one location and be able to grow 400,000 plants a year.

Although approximately 99 Florida farms qualify under the provision, it leaves out the vast majority of African-American farmers, many of whom either did not own a farm 30 years ago, have since moved locations or are not big enough.

Eugene Monts is one of the many African-American farmers who feels left out of the bill. “It’s not fair to the small farmer,” Monts told First Coast News. “If he grows one bush give him the opportunity to compete in the market.”

Unfortunately, SB 7066 does little to address these concerns and instead expands on the number of qualifying conditions and number of potential growers. Under this new bill, there would be up to 20 approved growers and patients suffering from HIV, epilepsy, ALS, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease would now qualify for medical marijuana.

Although these new provisions would be a welcome change to the state’s strict medical marijuana laws, it is difficult to see how any of the changes would help keep regulators from getting bogged down in more lawsuits. Without addressing the underlying concerns of Florida’s growers, the lawsuits are not likely to stop.

According to the Bradenton Herald, there was an amendment introduced by Sen.Oscar Braynon that would have done away with the 30-year rule. However, despite not being a fan of the rule himself, bill sponsor Sen. Rob Bradley had Braynon withdraw the amendment, promising to work with Braynon on a resolution that “will accomplish all of these goals at the same time.”

Simply put, marijuana reform is a mess in Florida right now. Between the legislature stalling on real marijuana reform while fast tracking a bill that does little to change anything, the circumstances do not bode well for prospective medical marijuana patients or investors. While there still time for the legislature to pass meaningful reform, it might just be better to hold out hope for a 2016 ballot initiative instead.

This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.

About MJINews

MJINews.com is owned by Panther Media, which was founded in March of 2014 by veteran publishing and investment executives David Friedman and Kristin Fox. MJINews was designed to fill the need for a reliable and credible source of information for investment opportunities in the nascent legal marijuana industry. MJINews is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and investors make informed business and investment decisions. You can follow MJINews on Twitter @mmjinvestor.


Network Partners

Follow Us on Social Media

About CFN Media Group

CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN) owns and operates CFN Media Group, the premier agency and financial media network reaching executives, entrepreneurs and consumers worldwide. Through its proprietary content creation, video library, and distribution via www.CannabisFN.com, CFN has built an extensive database of cannabis interest, assisting many of the world’s largest cannabis firms and CBD brands to build awareness and thrive. For more information, please visit www.cfnenterprisesinc.com.

Disclaimer: Matters discussed on this website contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may from time-to-time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and will increase or decrease such positions without notice. The Information contains forward-looking statements, i.e. statements or discussions that constitute predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, estimates, or projections as indicated by such words as "expects", "will", "anticipates", and "estimates"; therefore, you should proceed with extreme caution in relying upon such statements and conduct a full investigation of the Information and the Profiled Issuer as well as any such forward-looking statements. Any forward looking statements we make in the Information are limited to the time period in which they are made, and we do not undertake to update forward looking statements that may change at any time; The Information is presented only as a brief "snapshot" of the Profiled Issuer and should only be used, at most, and if at all, as a starting point for you to conduct a thorough investigation of the Profiled Issuer and its securities and to consult your financial, legal or other adviser(s) and avail yourself of the filings and information that may be accessed at www.sec.gov, www.pinksheets.com, www.otcmarkets.com or other electronic sources, including: (a) reviewing SEC periodic reports (Forms 10-Q and 10-K), reports of material events (Form 8-K), insider reports (Forms 3, 4, 5 and Schedule 13D); (b) reviewing Information and Disclosure Statements and unaudited financial reports filed with the Pink Sheets or www.otcmarkets.com; (c) obtaining and reviewing publicly available information contained in commonlyknown search engines such as Google; and (d) consulting investment guides at www.sec.gov and www.finra.com. You should always be cognizant that the Profiled Issuers may not be current in their reporting obligations with the SEC and OTCMarkets and/or have negative signs at www.otcmarkets.com (See section below titled "Risks Related to the Profiled Issuers, which provides additional information pertaining thereto). For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice and that of their own professional advisers. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may be compensated for its Services in the form of cash-based and/or equity-based compensation in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure, please visit: https://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/. A short time after we acquire the securities of the foregoing company, we may publish the (favorable) information about the issuer referenced above advising others, including you, to purchase; and while doing so, we may sell the securities we acquired. In addition, a third-party shareholder compensating us may sell his or her shares of the issuer while we are publishing favorable information about the issuer. Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed in this article contain forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority, and does not provide nor claims to provide investment advice or recommendations to readers of this release. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may from time to time have a position in the securities mentioned herein and will increase or decrease such positions without notice. For making specific investment decisions, readers should seek their own advice and that of their own professional advisers. CFN Media Group, which owns CannabisFN, may be compensated for its Services in the form of cash-based and/or equity- based compensation in the companies it writes about, or a combination of the two. For full disclosure please visit: https://www.cannabisfn.com/legal-disclaimer/.

Copyright © Accelerize Inc. · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · Legal Disclaimer

loading