At this rate, I think it will have taken Florida longer than any other state to implement one, single, medical marijuana law. Since being signed into law in 2014 we’ve continuously hit one hold up after another – and just when it feels like we’re finally picking up momentum and getting somewhere, things come to a screeching halt.

After the five allotted nurseries were selected at the end of November it seemed that we may finally see patients getting relief early in 2016. Hopes for that might have been too high, however, because a total of 11 different companies have challenged the Department of Health’s ruling on the matter.

CANNABIS CULTURE – Now that Canada is poised to legalize cannabis for all adults, you may grow complacent about how much trouble marijuana can get you into in the United States.

Sure, we’ve got four states (Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington) that have legalized some possession of weed, with another five states (Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada) likely to legalize in 2016. You can even possess pot in our nation’s capital, Washington DC.

The deadline to turn in your signed Florida medical marijuana petition is rapidly approaching. I received the following reminder from the Florida campaign. If you haven’t signed the petition yet and made sure the campaign has it, please do so asap:

THIS IS IMPORTANT:

If you do not mail in your 2016 signed medical marijuana petition to the campaign by Monday, we can’t guarantee it will be processed in time to help us.

The effort to legalize a wider use of medical marijuana in Florida has a lot of support, an Orlando Business Journal poll found.

In the unscientific poll, "Will you vote for or against medical marijuana in November 2016?" 91.5 percent of the 473 responses said, "I will vote for broadening medical marijuana use." The remaining 8.5 percent said, "I will vote against broadening medical marijuana use."

An OBJ poll found that there is a lot of support for legalizing a wider use of medical… more

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg

(Reuters) - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday approved language of a proposed constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana for people with debilitating medical conditions, paving the way for a vote next year.

Supporters must gather enough petition signatures to ensure the measure will be placed on the 2016 ballot.

United With Care, a medical marijuana advocacy group, said on its website it needs to secure 683,149 signatures by Dec. 31 to bring the amendment to a popular vote. Some 400,000 Florida residents have already signed the petition, the group said.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia allow marijuana use for those suffering from a range of ailments, from HIV to glaucoma and cancer to epilepsy.

A deputy U.S. marshal from Florida has admitted robbing marijuana dealers at gunpoint in Yuba City.

Clorenzo Griffin, 38, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Sacramento to conspiring to commit a robbery. As part of his plea agreement, Griffin admitted that he planned, financed and participated in the robbery, according to a U.S. attorney’s office news release. He also stated in the plea agreement that he was a deputy U.S. marshal.

Griffin’s co-conspirators, Andre Jamison, 40, and Rodney Rackley, 24, both of Miami, previously entered guilty pleas in the case. U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller last week sentenced Jamison to seven years and three months in prison. On Wednesday, she sentenced Rackley to six years in prison.

Updated: In a 4-1 vote, the Palm Beach County Commissioners passed the ordinance that decriminalizes pot possession. The measure now gives police the option to issue a $100 citation to someone caught with 20 grams of pot or less, rather than arresting him.

Commissioner Hal Valeche had the lone dissenting vote.  

The proposed ordinance would give the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies the option of issuing a civil citation to violators or enforcing state law. The civil citation would make the possession of 20 grams or less of pot a civil offense rather than a criminal one. State law, however, states that pot possession is a crime.

TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The U.S. cannabis industry is still celebrating its biggest and best year ever in 2015, but natural wellness solutions company Neutra Corp. (NTRR) is already working on innovative products to capitalize on even more dramatic growth to come in 2016. Some analysts are predicting that the U.S. cannabis industry could grow by another six states in the next 12 months.

According to Florida Politics, the limited medical marijuana licenses of Florida is being challenged. There are a total of 13 administrative challenges with regard to the decision of the state to grant licenses for the medical marijuana industry.

There is an administrative challenge filed against the decision in all five regions. On the other hand, Red Nursery filed administrative challenges in two regions.

TALLAHASSEE (NSF) – Three nurseries rejected by health officials for medical-marijuana licenses are challenging the licenses granted to Florida’s first “dispensing organizations,” with possibly more appeals on the horizon before a Monday deadline.

In a challenge filed Friday, Gainesville-based San Felasco Nurseries argued that the grower was erroneously disqualified because of issues surrounding a background screening of its research and development director. The nursery also alleges that the winner of the license for the state’s Northeast region, Chestnut Hill Tree Farm, is ineligible to be one of the five dispensing organizations, which will grow, process and distribute non-euphoric marijuana legalized last year.