Two and half years after the Florida Legislature approved medical marijuana the state and growers continue to fight in court over who is allowed to grow and sell the plant.

Two and a half years after the Florida Legislature approve medical marijuana, the state struggles to implement a regulatory structure for growing and selling of marijuana.(Photo: tvirbickis, Getty Images/iStockp)

An administrative law judge says the Florida Department of Health has made a mess of medical marijuana regulations. Judge John Van Laningham’s expected ruling in a southwest Florida case sometime next month could throw the state’s budding cannabis industry into total disarray.

We've often heard professional athletes in the NBA, NFL and NHL say that marijuana's medicinal effects helped them maintain their game, by providing relief for their aches and pains.

Las Vegas billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is opening up his checkbook again in an effort to defeat a medical marijuana proposal.

Campaign finance records filed Friday show Adelson recently donated $1 million to the political committee that is trying to defeat Amendment 2. Adelson two years ago donated $5.5 million to help defeat a similar amendment.

If approved by Florida voters Amendment 2 would allow medical use of marijuana.

Amendment backers fell just shy of having medical marijuana approved by voters in 2014. The state requires 60 percent approval for constitutional amendments, and the ballot question was supported by 57.6 percent of voters.

Although "the munchies" is a side effect regularly associated with smoking pot, a new study claims that marijuana use may actually contribute to lower body fat, despite previous claims of appetite increase and weight gain.

There will be more than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the ballot this November, voters heading to the polls in nine states will also be deciding on Marijuana.

Collectively, these marijuana measures mean more voters will be weighing in on cannabis issues than any other year in American history.

Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn and his family opened Takoma Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in the District of Columbia three years ago.

Florida voters are poised to make some patients in the state users of medical marijuana. So far, 25 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana while three states and D.C. have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Besides Florida, Missouri and Arkansas will also have medical marijuana legalization on the ballot in November. 

A local lawyer who told people they could legally grow marijuana despite a federal law saying the opposite now faces a lawsuit accusing him of profiting off crimes.

Ian Christensen’s law firm told couples like the Yandells that if they medically needed marijuana, he could get them a doctor’s certificate that would protect them from arrest, according to Scott and Marsha Yandell’s lawsuit.

When New Times sat down with medical-marijuana advocate and political consultant Ben Pollara earlier this month, Pollara said he wasn't concerned that Carol Jenkins Barnett, daughter of Publix founder George Jenkins, had donated $800,000 to a group trying to keep medicinal weed illegal. 

"I still think 'shopping is a pleasure,'" Pollara said, referencing the grocery store chain's famous slogan.

The fight over medical marijuana has raked in big money from both supporters and opponents of the constitutional amendment, but far more donations have come from the campaign fighting for medical marijuana in Florida than those fighting against it.

Donations towards the Yes on 2 campaign outnumbered donations from Drug Free Florida by nearly 650 to one, with Yes on 2 receiving over 7,000 donations to Drug Free Florida’s 11 donations.

This isn't the first time Florida has seen a constitutional amendment to legalize medical pot. Voters last cast their ballots on the amendment in 2014, when it missed the necessary 60 percent to pass by only two points. 

In June 2014, the disgraced former CEO of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) signed Florida’s medical marijuana bill into law. It was a fitting beginning to a regulatory process that has been marred by shadowy fraud in the selection of lucrative vertically integrated licenses in what could become one of the largest medical marijuana markets in the country. The state appears poised to double down upon the fraud, and in keeping with Governor Rick Scott’s legacy of putting healthcare profits before people, some of the new law’s provisions could shield corporate revenues at the expense of fragile patients.