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As the Department of Health Considers Recommendations for it, There's a Temporary Stay on Smokable Medical Marijuana

Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis is asking the incoming U.S. attorney general to give guidance so Florida's medical marijuana industry can move away from cash.
It's legal in all of its other medical forms. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

The Florida Department of Health says it’s pleased with an appeals court ruling upholding a temporary stay on patients using smokable medical marijuana.

The ruling from the First District Court of Appeals in Tallahassee reversed an earlier court decision on the stay. Central Florida attorney John Morgan says he expects the issue will go before the state Supreme court after the earlier judge’s ruling. That means medical marijuana is effectively off the table until then.

“It’s the law and the judge was right. Karen Gievers was right and meanwhile a lot of sick people languish because for many of them smokable is the best form of taking the marijuana.”

More than 120,000 patients are approved for medical marijuana use in the state. Voters in 2016 overwhelmingly supported a state constitutional amendment legalizing the drug. The Legislature has already approved the drug in its edible and cream as treatment for a variety of different medical conditions.

If you'd like to the listen to the full story, please click on the clip above.

 

Danielle Prieur is WMFE's education reporter.