Tag Archives: cannabis

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Tampa Bay Times: Could Tampa’s own Joe Redner shake up the medical marijuana industry?

In a lawsuit against the Florida Department of Health, Tampa strip club owner Joe Redner says he has a right to own marijuana plants for medicinal uses. Redner, 77, is a lung cancer patient. [OCTAVIO JONES | Times]

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times 

Joe Redner wants to juice his own marijuana, harvested from his back yard.

The 77-year-old strip club owner with stage 4 lung cancer already has a recommendation from his state-certified physician to do it. But the Florida Department of Health won’t let him.

In an unprecedented lawsuit challenging the state’s interpretation of Amendment 2 and asserting what he says is his own constitutional right, Redner is fighting to grow medical marijuana from his home in Tampa. After months of litigation against the health department, ending in a short trial last month, the judge is expected to rule any day.

But whatever the outcome, Redner’s case could pave the way for other advocates. His is just the first of several lawsuits aimed at giving patients greater access to the alternative medicine that more than 70 percent of Floridians voted for in 2016.

“Hopefully some of this litigation will give more patients the access they want and deserve,” said Ben Pollara, executive director of marijuana advocacy organization Florida for Care and one of the authors of the medical marijuana amendment. “That was the whole point of passing the law.”

The outspoken Redner and other critics across the state say the health department continues to create barriers for more than 95,000 registered patients in Florida that could benefit from marijuana.

“The amendment doesn’t distinguish between the types of medical marijuana,” says Luke Lirot, the Clearwater attorney representing Redner. “It’s been six months and the department of health still hasn’t adopted very basic regulations. It’s difficult right now because doctors don’t know what they’re dealing with yet in terms of regulation.”

Redner’s suit claims the state is not following the public’s will, and says the state Constitution, as amended by voters, defines marijuana as “all parts of the plant.”

More lawsuits are already underway. Orlando attorney and marijuana advocate John Morgan will go to trial in Tallahassee next month to challenge the state’s ban on smoking cannabis.

“A single snowflake causes the avalanche. … People like Joe are the snowflakes,” Morgan said, referring to Redner. “One day cannabis will be legal recreationally, and people will grow it in their back yard. When that will happen, I don’t know. But Joe is on the right track and I hope he’s successful.”

Read more here.

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Meet Florida’s Legal Drug Cartels

By Justine Griffin, Tampa Bay Times, April 14, 2017

While Florida voters have overwhelmingly voted to make medical marijuana legal, it’s up to the Legislature to translate how it will work. There’s a lot at stake. It may seem like a basic humanitarian issue for patients who want simple and affordable access to medical marijuana. But it’s not. Why? For one, medical marijuana is projected to become a $1 billion industry in Florida within the next three years.

So far, only seven companies have been licensed by the state to produce, cultivate and sell it. They are responsible for providing patients who suffer from debilitating conditions with a medicinal alternative to prescription drugs. Often described as the “cartels,” Florida’s seven licensed cannabis companies have millions in investment behind them. They donated more than a half-million dollars in campaign contributions and employ well-known lobbyists in Tallahassee. Some have started to open dispensaries while others are just getting their production facilities up and running. But none has made any significant profit yet, nor have they since the start in 2014, as the state’s burgeoning patient population is only just starting to grow.

While those who defend the cartel system say it will ensure tight state control, others argue that it will keep prices needlessly high for some patients. When I visited a handful of dispensaries around the state, prices ranged from $50 to $250 for monthly supplies of some products.

“Florida is very different than other states’ medical marijuana programs. The argument is that having only seven companies gives the state more control, but it also creates a quasi monopoly — all the production is concentrated and you lose variety and quality that way,” said Peter Sessa, co-founder of the Tampa-based Florida Cannabis Coalition. “Without an open market, prices will be high for patients who can’t use their insurance to pay for it.”

Midway through the legislative session, the two chambers are still working out how the system will work — laws that would take effect this summer. This much is known. Seven companies will have much of the action, maybe all of it. Here are the seven CEOs behind the state’s currently approved medical marijuana companies.

The Tampa Bay Times analyzed campaign contributions and interviewed executives behind the state’s legal cannabis companies. Here are their backgrounds.

Click here to read more about each company.

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It may be legal now, but opening a medical marijuana store in Florida is harder than you think

By Justine Griffin, Tampa Bay Times, March 3, 2017

surterra

TAMPA — The Surterra Therapeutics storefront on Fowler Avenue doesn’t look like the kind of place where people can buy pot.

There’s no green marijuana leaves lit in neon lights nor blacked-out windows. No security guard is checking IDs at the front door. Visitors don’t have to be escorted into another room to see the product.

And that’s on purpose.

As one of seven select companies licensed to grow, manufacture, distribute and sell marijuana in Florida, Surterra Holdings Inc. executives are used to explaining that they’re not in business to be another smoke shop. But that’s tough to do when even the bank lenders, real estate brokers, landlords and insurance agents are wary of doing business with them.

“We’re trying to change the stigma,” said Monica Russell, a spokeswoman for Surterra, who noted even securing insurance for the company’s fleet of delivery trucks has been a challenge. “We want people to come here so they can have a conversation and see we’re actually a health and wellness company.”

Marijuana is still considered an illegal substance at the federal level, despite the 28 states that have legalized it for recreational or medicinal use in recent years. That makes it nearly impossible for banks to fund marijuana distributing companies, which in turn makes it hard to sign a lease for a commercial store or warehouse.

Read more here.