Florida's Republican-dominated legislature can barely pass basic laws like tax cuts or budget plans without tripping over themselves or spiraling into intra-party screaming matches. The state legislature is so bad at writing its own laws that, as the Miami Herald astutely pointed out last week, gigantic companies like Florida Power & Light have to write entire laws for them. The current legislature is a Stygian pit of bad ideas.

So naturally, Florida voters chose in 2016 to give all those people drugs.

Medical marijuana producer Aphria Inc. is expanding into the lucrative U.S. market with an initial $25 million investment to set up shop in Florida, which recently legalized pot for medical use.

The foray is its first major step in a U.S. expansion strategy through a series of transactions. The result will be a new company called Liberty Health Sciences Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian Securities Exchange-listed SecureCom Mobile Inc. that will acquire Chestnut Hill Tree Farm, which is one of the seven companies licensed in Florida to dispense marijuana to patients.

Florida

There’s a lot going on in Tallahassee as Sunshine State legislators forge the regulatory framework for Florida’s medical marijuana program.

Senators appear poised to advance legislation (SB 406) to welcome five new cannabis dispensaries to Florida by October. At least one would be minority-owned. Friday’s measure also requires four additional dispensaries within “six months after each instance of the registration of 75,000 qualifying patients with the compassionate use registry.”

That 75,000 figure is dramatically less than the previous threshold of 250,000.

Hemp, Inc.

The chair of the Florida Senate's Health Policy Committee says they're at least two weeks away from voting on a medical marijuana bill.

The committee held a workshop on Wednesday as it began to consider five bills to implement Amendment 2. Sen. Dana Young, a Tampa Republican, says there isn't a consensus on a framework for what might come out of the committee.

Amendment 2 was approved by 71 percent of voters last November. It took effect on Jan. 3 and allows higher-strength marijuana to be used for a wider list of medical ailments.

The Legislature and Department of Health have until July to revise current rules and must implement them by October. The Legislature's 60-day session ends on May 5.

More people will soon have access to Medical Marijuana, but first Florida lawmakers have to set the new rules.

There's a lot of confusion since the passing of Amendment 2 last year, which expands the 2014 law -- the one everyone is operating under right now -- to give more patients with more ailments access to the controversial weed.

To clear up some of the confusion, News4Jax was the only local TV station taken inside a secure Florida facility, west of Tallahassee, to reveal just how medical marijuana is being grown and sold, how it's getting ready to serve even more patients and when new rules allowing more people to legally use it will likely be in place.

Now that Florida has legalized marijuana for medicinal use, a couple of state lawmakers want to ensure that law enforcement doesn’t put more people in jail for pot possession.

Democratic Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith and Democratic Senator Jeff Clemens recently introduced bills in the state legislature aimed at eliminating the criminal penalties associated with marijuana possession. These bills would allow anyone caught with up to an ounce of weed to simply repay their debt to civil society through a small fine and/or community service rather than through the criminal justice system.

Back in November, Florida voted to legalize medical cannabis by an overwhelming margin, with 72 percent in favor of expansive legislation.

While residents have waited patiently for the state Legislature to create regulations, most advocates will certainly be disappointed with the first inklings of the planned medical system. 

Central Florida’s first medical marijuana dispensary is slated to open in the next few weeks on North Orange Avenue at Ivanhoe Village, next to White Wolf Cafe.

With gleaming white floors highlighted by gold flecks, wood-slat walls, custom cabinetry and glass panels separating a waiting room from the products, the Knox Medical center is slated to open at 1901 North Orange Avenue. Owners see it as more than a place to distribute, with plans to convey a message.

“I think the community can embrace it and be proud of it,” said Bruce Knox, founder of Knox Medical. “We are just trying to build them as nice as we can to dispel the myth. We all want to have a very professional image and we don’t want anything seedy that could tarnish the state’s image.”

Brightly lit and bustling, Harborside Health Center serves as something of a model for the medical marijuana industry — even as California’s freewheeling approach to cannabis is seen as an example of how not to do things.

As dozens of customers at Harborside pick their products, chatty budtenders talk knowledgeably about the selection, which includes cannabis for smoking, eating and vaporizing.

Business is booming: Between this store in Oakland and another location in San Jose, Harborside’s sales total $35 million a year. Sales are so strong that Harborside offers free yoga, tai chi and acupuncture to its customers, who must have a doctor’s permission to enter the store.