Medical Marijuana Law in Florida

Governor Rick Scott has approved Senate Bill 8-A.  The statute most effected is section 381.986, Florida Statutes.

Recently it has been revealed that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been lobbying congress via letter to roll back policies that prevent the federal government from criminally prosecuting medical marijuana providers.  In this letter, Mr. Sessions asks congressmen for the authority to prosecute medical marijuana providers.

Before this came to light, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to Mr. Sessions asking him not to change federal policy which prevents the Department of Justice from prosecuting doctors and medical marijuana providers.  Neither Florida Senator signed that letter.  Neither senator from Florida responded to questions about why they did not join their colleagues.

If you would like to express your opinion to your senators, Senator Bill Nelson’s office can be contacted here: https://www.billnelson.senate.gov/contact-bill

At the time of this writing, Senator Marco Rubio’s website has disabled email and contact functionality.  His office can be contacted by mail or phone:

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3041

Toll Free: (866) 630-7106

 

In a special session, the Florida Legislature passed two bills related to Medical Marijuana on June 9, 2017.

You can read each bill for yourself here:

• Senate Bill 6-A creates exceptions for certain information related to medical marijuana.
• Senate Bill 8-A implements Amendment 2, and creates a regulatory structure for medical marijuana.

The Governor has said he plans to sign the bills.

These bills were passed to implement Amendment 2, passed by Florida voters in 2016, now part of the Florida Constitution. Art. X, § 29, Fla. Const.