Katelyn Baker
Well-Known Member
Tallahassee – With the state's pot industry poised to explode, Florida health officials have agreed to issue another medical marijuana license – the state's seventh – to a Central Florida nursery that lost out to a competitor by a fraction of a percentage point last fall.
The Department of Health inked the agreement with McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery last week – after nearly a year of protracted and expensive litigation over the license – before Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth McArthur could issue a ruling and as health officials tried to work out a deal over another license in a separate challenge.
In the Dec. 12 settlement, posted Monday on the Division of Administrative Hearings website, state health officials acknowledged that McCrory's, based in Eustis, should have received a Central Florida license awarded in November to Knox Nursery.
Of the seven applicants in the Central region, a three-member panel charged with evaluating the applications gave McCrory's an aggregate score of 5.5417, just a fraction below Knox, whose score of 5.5458 earned the Lake Mary-based grower a license.
McCrory's contended that one of the reviewers, who identified the nursery as "superior to all other applicants" in one component, erroneously gave the nursery a score of "6" instead of a "7." If the rank had been assigned correctly, McCrory's "would correctly receive the high score and been the highest scoring applicant in the Central region," the nursery's lawyers wrote in May.
The administrative challenges are rooted in a 2014 law that initially called for one license to be awarded in each region of the state for nurseries to grow, process and distribute medical marijuana. That law allowed limited types of non-euphoric cannabis for some patients and was expanded early this year to allow full-strength pot for people who are terminally ill.
The agency's attempts to resolve the administrative challenges by granting new licenses come as lawmakers prepare to grapple with a vastly expanded medical marijuana market in the state, the result of a constitutional amendment approved by voters last month.
State economists estimate that 500,000 patients could be eligible for the treatment, but industry observers predict that number could be even greater because the amendment gives doctors leeway to order pot for illnesses not specifically identified in the amendment.
The number of licenses available to businesses interested in growing, processing or selling pot products is expected to be one of the most contentious issues lawmakers face as they contemplate implementation of the constitutional amendment during the legislative session that begins in March.
Four of the state's six medical marijuana license-holders are now producing pot treatments. According to GrowHealthy CEO Don Clifford, terminally ill patients receiving full-strength marijuana are restricted to purchasing five days' worth of treatment becasue of a supply shortage.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: McCrory's Sunny Hill Gains Florida Medical-Marijuana License
Author: Dara Kam
Contact: (407) 420-5000
Photo Credit: Red Huber
Website: Orlando Sentinel
The Department of Health inked the agreement with McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery last week – after nearly a year of protracted and expensive litigation over the license – before Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth McArthur could issue a ruling and as health officials tried to work out a deal over another license in a separate challenge.
In the Dec. 12 settlement, posted Monday on the Division of Administrative Hearings website, state health officials acknowledged that McCrory's, based in Eustis, should have received a Central Florida license awarded in November to Knox Nursery.
Of the seven applicants in the Central region, a three-member panel charged with evaluating the applications gave McCrory's an aggregate score of 5.5417, just a fraction below Knox, whose score of 5.5458 earned the Lake Mary-based grower a license.
McCrory's contended that one of the reviewers, who identified the nursery as "superior to all other applicants" in one component, erroneously gave the nursery a score of "6" instead of a "7." If the rank had been assigned correctly, McCrory's "would correctly receive the high score and been the highest scoring applicant in the Central region," the nursery's lawyers wrote in May.
The administrative challenges are rooted in a 2014 law that initially called for one license to be awarded in each region of the state for nurseries to grow, process and distribute medical marijuana. That law allowed limited types of non-euphoric cannabis for some patients and was expanded early this year to allow full-strength pot for people who are terminally ill.
The agency's attempts to resolve the administrative challenges by granting new licenses come as lawmakers prepare to grapple with a vastly expanded medical marijuana market in the state, the result of a constitutional amendment approved by voters last month.
State economists estimate that 500,000 patients could be eligible for the treatment, but industry observers predict that number could be even greater because the amendment gives doctors leeway to order pot for illnesses not specifically identified in the amendment.
The number of licenses available to businesses interested in growing, processing or selling pot products is expected to be one of the most contentious issues lawmakers face as they contemplate implementation of the constitutional amendment during the legislative session that begins in March.
Four of the state's six medical marijuana license-holders are now producing pot treatments. According to GrowHealthy CEO Don Clifford, terminally ill patients receiving full-strength marijuana are restricted to purchasing five days' worth of treatment becasue of a supply shortage.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: McCrory's Sunny Hill Gains Florida Medical-Marijuana License
Author: Dara Kam
Contact: (407) 420-5000
Photo Credit: Red Huber
Website: Orlando Sentinel
