A state senator filed a bill recently that replaces Florida’s current medical marijuana program.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, said his bill is a free-market approach that stops only a few from cornering this new industry.
The current program will eventually award licenses that allow only five nurseries to grow, process and distribute medical marijuana.

Brandes said that’s like winning Willy Wonka’s golden ticket.

“You have five producers around the state. One per region and it’s basically their region. So you have no competition, no quality issues, you really can’t diversify your product mix. You have less innovation - all of the things that we typically see in monopolistic markets would occur under the current regime of medical marijuana in Florida,” he said.

Under his bill, individual licenses would be given for retail, processing or cultivation. A facility can have a combination of these licenses.

Brandes said there would only be one retail facility per 50,000 residents.

The bill also expands the number of conditions for patients who can use medical marijuana.

This includes conditions like Parkinson’s or Crohn’s disease. Patients can also get medical marijuana for the less specific problem of severe and persistent pain.

But, Brandes said the bill has provisions to stop people from taking advantage of the system.

“We actually require that you have two physicians for pain. That one of those physicians be board certified and they have to make a statement that they’ve tried other alternatives and that they believe this is a reasonable alternative for handling someone’s pain,” he said.

It would allow the use medical marijuana in a variety of forms. The current program only permits a non-euphoric strain of marijuana that will be processed into an oil.

The oil is meant to treat conditions like epileptic seizures or cancer