Nurseries passed over to grow Florida’s medical marijuana have until 5 o’clock this evening to sue the Florida Department of Health.
Florida picked five growers for the low-THC medical marijuana crop. Three growers have already told the state they plan to sue.
Patients in Florida were supposed to be able to access medical marijuana in January of this year. But legal action slowed down putting the so-called Charlotte’s Web from law into practice.
28 nurseries applied for the licenses … but only five got the right to to grow, process and distribute low-THC medical marijuana.
Out of the five licenses granted by the state last month, four of them were awarded to nurseries that had owners on that committee. That made TropiFlora call foul in a lawsuit filed last week (download the lawsuit here). And they argue that all the awards should be invalidated by a judge.
The process of having three judges rank the application was ordered by the courts. The Florida Department of Health originally wanted to award the licenses by a random lottery.
Experts say just putting together the massive applications was expensive, and critics have said the nurseries with the best lobbyists won the licenses.
More lawsuits could mean more delays for patients waiting for the drug, which was supposed to be available in January of this year.
