A Dec. 8 hearing scheduled for the Florida Supreme Court to hear oral arguments for and against legalizing medical marijuana has been canceled.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -

Florida legislators may change the law to allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana.

A House panel on Tuesday approved a bill that would change the state's recently enacted "Right to Try Act." That law allows patients with less than a year to live to take experimental drugs.

Supporters of the measure (HB 307) say terminally ill patients should have access to marijuana so they don't have to rely on drugs such as morphine to relieve their pain. Patients would not be allowed to smoke or inject pot.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida legislators may change the law to allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana.

A House panel on Tuesday approved a bill that would change the state's recently-enacted "Right to Try Act." That law allows patients with less than a year to live to take experimental drugs.

Supporters of the measure (HB 307) say terminally ill patients should have access to marijuana so they don't have to rely on drugs such as morphine to relieve their pain. Patients would not be allowed to smoke or inject pot.

Current consumers of cannabis are 50 percent less likely to suffer from metabolic syndrome as compared to those who have never used the substance, according to findings published online ahead of print in The American Journal of Medicine.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and abdominal fat, which are linked to increased risk of heart disease and/or type 2 diabetes, among other serious health consequences.

Marijuana users are stereotypically portrayed as lazy, leading a generally sedentary lifestyle. They are also prone to get the “munchies,” which science proved to actually be a thing a few months ago. Those two factors are leading causes of metabolic syndrome, so one would think that marijuana users would be at greater risk of metabolic syndrome. A new study shows that’s not the case, however.

Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, filed a bill Monday he calls "a robust and free-market regulatory approach to the governance of cultivation, processing, and retail sale of medical marijuana in Florida."

SB 852, like measures Brandes has supported in the past, will allow qualified patients with a range of conditions or symptoms to access medical marijuana if recommended by their physician.

The bill licenses cultivation, processing, and retail facilities and -- important to note -- fully replaces the existing Charlotte’s Web licensing system.

The Florida Supreme Court is canceling a Dec. 8 hearing scheduled to consider a measure to legalize medical marijuana.

The court announced the decision Friday. The move comes a few days after Attorney General Pam Bondi said she will not ask the court to block the latest medical marijuana amendment.

The Supreme Court is reviewing the ballot initiative. Justices must decide whether or not the amendment is misleading and whether it complies with single-subject requirements.

Supporters tried to pass a similar amendment during the 2014 election. That ballot measure failed because it did not meet the 60-percent threshold needed to pass.

The Florida Supreme Court is cancelling a Dec. 8 hearing it had scheduled to consider a measure to legalize medical marijuana.The court announced the decision on Friday. The move comes a few days after Attorney General Pam Bondi said she will not ask the court to block the latest medical marijuana amendment.The Supreme Court is currently reviewing the ballot initiative. Justices must decide whether or not the amendment is misleading and whether it complies with single-subject requirements.Supporters tried to pass a similar amendment during the 2014 election. That ballot measure failed because it did not meet the 60-percent threshold needed to pass.Backers of medical marijuana will need to collect more than 683,000 signatures by next February in order to go before voters in 2016.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -

With Attorney General Pam Bondi declining to launch a challenge, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday called off a hearing scheduled for next month on a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana.

Justices still need to sign off on the wording of the ballot initiative before it could go to voters in November 2016. But without opposition to the wording, backers of the amendment appear likely to clear a key hurdle in the initiative process.

When Moriah Barnhart’s 2-year-old daughter Dahlia was attacked by intense tremors, fever and nausea in May 2013, she rushed the girl to a Tampa emergency room. A week later, after surgery for an aggressive and cancerous brain tumor, Dahlia couldn’t eat, walk or talk.

Three weeks later, her left side partly paralyzed, Dahlia was moved to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis for experimental treatments. She soon stopped breathing, a device had to be implanted in her skull to drain excess fluid, and her chemotherapy drugs had spread sores throughout her mouth and gastrointestinal tract. Subsequent treatments caused nerve and brain damage, vomiting and weight loss.