Posts with the tag "Cannabis"

Every Florida physician who serves as the primary care provider (“PCP”) for some or all of his or her patients should consider whether to become a “Qualified Ordering Physician” (“QOP”), with the ability to authorize Qualified Patients (“QP”) to receive medical marijuana (“cannabis”). Physicians in a number of specialties (i.e., pain management and oncology) are recognizing the value of cannabis for treating their QPs’ medical issues and are becoming QOPs.

If a recent decision of the Florida First District Court of Appeal (Florida Department of Health, Office of Medical Marijuana Use, et al. v. Florigrown, LLC, et al., No. 1D18-4471) is upheld, there likely will be significant restructuring of the medical marijuana industry in the State. The cause of this uncertainty lies in the Florida Legislature’s choice of one conjunction, “and” instead of “or”.

A recent Gallup poll found that one in seven Americans say they personally use cannabidiol (“CBD”) based products. Approximately 90% of all respondents indicated that they used CBD for medical or therapeutic reasons. Top reasons for use included 40% for pain, 20% for anxiety, 11% for sleep, and 8% for arthritis.

Most Floridians know that medical marijuana is legal in Florida. What most Floridians do not know is that a restrictive system called the vertical integration model, which some people call the cartel model, severely restricts competition, increasing prices, causing scarcity, and limiting product options.