Politics|The latest in cannabis legalization including laws and policies legislators views election coverage and more. Politics Whats the Deal With Floridas Dispensaries? Bruce Barcott Floridas 20 million residents may be forgiven if theyre confused about the upcomingvote on Amendment 2 which would legalize medical cannabis. Didnt they recently see headlines announcing Florida Opens First Dispensary? They did (see the headlines). And they didnt (open an actual dispensary). Technically Florida medical marijuana dispensaries do exist. Also technically what they offer is hemp oil. Thats not an exaggeration. Florida voters expressed their desire for medical cannabis with 57.6 percent approval (but not passage) of medical legalization in late 2014. Heeding that vote state legislators attempted to craft a medical marijuana bill in Tallahassee. The best they could do however was the deceptively named Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014which offered no medical marijuana at all. What it allowed was quite literally hemp oil. The act allowed exactly six licensed Florida companies to manufacture and sell low-THC cannabis which is defined as containing 0.8 percent or less of THC and 10 percent or more of CBD. RELATED STORY What are High CBD Cannabis Strains and How Do They Differ from High THC Strains? Lets put that into context. The federal government and most states define industrial hemp (non-psychoactive cannabis) as a product containing no more than 0.3 percent THC. West Virginia actually considers cannabis with less than 1.0 percent THC to be hemp so the strictly controlled medicine allowed to a small number Florida patients would actually be categorized as hemp in the Mountain State. In fact the low-THC cannabis strictly regulated by the state of Florida is currently sold openly nationwide over the internet. Earlier this year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested CBD-rich hemp oil products sold by legal websites. FDA researchers found four products that would qualify as medical marijuana under Floridas current regulations: Source: U.S. Food amp; Drug Administration 2016 Warning Letters and Test Results for Cannabidiol-Related Products. Okay to be fair:Two would qualify and two would be judgment calls depending on whether Florida state officials measure THC content to the tenth of a percentage or to the hundredth. To qualify for permission to receive this hemp oil a Florida patient must receive permission from a specially licensed physician. To be licensed a physician must pass an exam after investing 8 hours in a special medical marijuana training program. (No such requirement exists for doctors who prescribe opioids.) Only patients who have cancer or an intractable seizure condition such as severe epilepsy may qualify. Patients under 18 must receive permission from two MMJ-licensed physicians. You can obtain normal cannabis in Florida. But only if you're about to die. Last year the Legislature added another qualifying condition. Patients with a documented terminal illness may now receive medical marijuana with more than 0.8 percent THC. Only patients who are expected to die within 12months qualify for this special exemption. In other words if youre nearly dead and have no expectation to survive Florida law will allow you to obtain the same cannabis thats legal in 25 other medical states. But first you have to have aphysician swear on paper that you are absolutely going to die. Soon. This is why medical cannabis advocates are working hard to pass Amendment 2: The states current medical marijuana program is not a medical marijuana program at all. Many growers in the current programIve met some of themare sincerely trying to help. They may eventually become the foundational cannabis farmers in a robust Amendment 2 program. But right now theyre bound by the ridiculous strictures created by state legislators who established a cruel hoax that mocks thousands of Florida patients who sincerely need help. Election 2016FloridaHemplawslegalizationMedicaloils Bruce Barcott Bruce is Leaflys deputy editor. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and author of Weed the People: The Future of Legal Marijuana in America. Related Articles Florida Legalization: Seeking 60 Percent in the Sunshine State Its a Close Money Race in Florida Medical Cannabis Can Pass in Florida. Heres How. More Stories About Medical Cannabis Health Cannabis and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Treatment Science amp; Tech Cannabis May Relieve Pain Better in Men vs. Women Science amp; Tech These ADHD Researchers are Reading Your Posts for Insights on Medical Cannabis Health Is Cannabis Better for Chronic Pain Than Opioids? The post Whats the Deal With Floridas Dispensaries? appeared first on Leafly. by Bruce Barcott at Leafly