The November 2016 passing of Amendment 2, allowed Floridians with specific debilitating diseases or comparable debilitating conditions as determined by a licensed state physician access to medical marijuana. With this passage of Amendment 2, cities and counties must determine their own policies relating to this Amendment.
There was an ordinance passed in of May 2016 dealing with medical marijuana policy in the county, but this meeting was meant to iron out any details concerning the implementation and regulation of Amendment 2. It was also held to discuss the potential of building dispensary facilities and cultivation buildings in rural areas. Given a previous ordinance passed by the Board, facilities like these must have the proper documentation for them to be allowed to conduct business at all. The Board explained that this was done in order to follow the template established by Pain Management Clinics- as the purported interests of what Amendment 2 outlined are very similar in nature to these clinics.
Along with the proposal for construction of Medical Marijuana facilities came the obvious requirements and prohibitions needed in order to obtain a formal license or permit. Although nothing has been set in stone yet, the Board brought up questions concerning what strain of marijuana would be used in the facilities to come- it was argued that the same strands used in other states, like Charlotte’s Web, should be used, but it was stated that that strand, due to its lack of THC content, and various others would be allowed given proper permitting.
Proper permitting can be attained by a new dispensary or cultivation facility if they meet a set of very stringent guidelines established by the pain management clinics that preceded them. The Board meeting was shown a very detailed list of requirements. For example, there would be a restriction in place when it came to the signage a facility could use- it was agreed that there should be no explicit imagery or wording on display. No one with a felony may work there and every potential employee must go through a strict background check. There must be surveillance on the premises at all times and there will be absolutely no outside seating, or vending machines, nor will the use of the product inside or out of the facility be tolerated.
The planned facilities must be a minimum of 5,000 ft2 and it was stressed that they cannot be within 1,000 ft of the nearest park, daycare, or rehabilitation facility.
Given the similarities one can draw between these facilities and the ‘pill mills’, Commissioners Allocco and Mitten both expressed concerns over regulation. Mitten stressed the importance of careful restrictions or regulations as he argued that these facilities should still be treated like businesses.
The Chairman of the Board, in his closing statements, made it known that there will obviously be more meetings as time goes on, but they will be doing everything they can to implement this new amendment while abiding by the county they serve and staying within their legal boundaries.