John Morgan Considering Running for Governor

If he runs for governor, John Morgan would push pot legalization

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John Morgan has hinted time and again that he’ll throw his hat in the gubernatorial race, and now he’s suggesting recreational cannabis legalization would be his principal platform.

Under the medical marijuana program Morgan championed, Floridians with cancer, AIDS, chronic pain and other serious health issues can seek a doctor’s permission to use cannabis. As of early September, more than 36,000 patients had joined the state’s medical marijuana registry.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/runs-for-governor-john-morgan-would-push-pot-legalization/Q8JLRJ9agMR7iXiarFuvqN/

Board Prepares To Approve Rules For Medical Marijuana

The Florida Board of Medicine is preparing to vote on rules for doctors recommending medical cannabis.

State health regulators will vote on several medical cannabis regulations this week.
http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/board-prepares-approve-rules-medical-marijuana#stream/0

US Justice Department reportedly blocking marijuana research requests supported by DEA

By Douglas A. Berman

The Washington Post has this notable new article reporting that "The Justice Department under Attorney General Jeff Sessions has effectively blocked the Drug Enforcement Administration from taking action on more than two dozen requests to grow marijuana to use in research."

Here is more:
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/marijuana_law/federal-marijuana-laws-policies-and-practices/

Florida health rules on medical marijuana bolsters the heavily regulated status quo

By Erin Clark of Watchdog.org

“I’d say the expected result was what just happened,” California attorney Matt Harrison told Watchdog.org. (ANOTHER GOOD RESOURCE FOR INFO)Harrison helped draft California’s Prop 64, which decriminalized adult use of cannabis in the state.

“In the political reality and how administrative agencies work, it’s very typical that they would do something like that because it’s the whole hammer and nail syndrome, where they would be given this authorization to regulate this new area and they would imagine that it gives them some sort of mandate to do it the exact same way they did it previously.”

Medical marijuana has been a hot topic in Florida for several years. In 2014, a ballot measure very similar to 2016’s successful Amendment 2 failed, but a decriminalization bill passed the legislature: the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014. The bill decriminalized low-THC cannabis use for a limited number of patients under strict guidelines. It also allowed for there to be only five carefully regulated medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

The 2014 bill also established a system in which the marketplace was vertically integrated. Under this structure, someone has to not only grow the product but process it in-house and sell it.

Trulieve Pot Shop Expands Florida Operation in Tampa

ALLISON NIELSEN

January 24, 2017 - 12:30pm

Florida’s medical marijuana continues to expand statewide. On Tuesday, the Sunshine State’s first medical marijuana dispensary, Trulieve, announced it will open a third operating center in Tampa.

“This is an exciting start to the new year for Trulieve and the patients we serve,” said Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers. “As the first licensee to be authorized to dispense medical cannabis in Florida, we are pleased to serve an expanding Tampa market. We are also excited to be opening our newest dispensary.”