What DeSantis’s moves on marijuana may mean in Florida
Bottom Line: Governor Ron DeSantis has clearly chartered his own path through the first week of his administration. Just as I’d mentioned – prior to him taking the post – there are significant differences in opinion and priorities between Ron and his predecessor. We’ve already seen that play out with environmental policy, the handling of troubled public officials across the state and now medical marijuana in Florida. With the governor ready to act on marijuana policy in our state what will that mean?
The first and easiest step is for the state to drop legal action opposing the smoking of medical marijuana. That’s doubtlessly is going to happen but it’s also just the tip of the iceberg in our state which just created an office for a pot head...Ok, technically the position is the “Director of Cannabis” but you get the idea. So, what is likely to happen?
It’s likely you’ll see a push for a legislative overhaul of state guidelines on legally growing marijuana. Currently Florida law only legally enables growers to have a maximum of six flowering or 12 vegetative plants. Only established nurseries are enabled to grow as well. State regs state that a nursery must have 30 years of operation before being eligible for a license to grow as well as a minimum of 400,000 plants in cultivation. This locks out a lot of potential growers across the state.
I’d look for this to change. Also, expect the state to act to pave the path towards possible recreational adaptation in the future. Reading between the lines it appears there’s an expectation that there will be recreational legalization either at the state or federal level in the not-so-distant future. Laying the foundation for that today could help the state capture most of the business opportunity in-state rather than relying on imports for the product when/if recreational use takes hold.
So, stand by for news.