Dive Brief:
- Florida, Hawaii, and Oregon are grappling with various aspects of regulating medical marijuana, including setting dispensary licensing rules, fees for growers, and licenses.
- Florida nurseries have filed challenges to five medical marijuana licenses awarded by the state Department of Health questioning the process and accusing the department of failing to give due process by not allowing competitors to defend their presentations before the licenses were awarded.
- Hawaii's State Department of Health just published its rules for the state's first medical marijuana dispensary licensing program before applications are accepted for the first 8 licenses.
- Oregon's Health Authority is proposing raising the current $50 annual fee charged to medical marijuana growers for every patient they grow for to $200. Currently, state growers can grow the product for up to four patients.
Dive Insight:
The pending challenges in Florida will likely delay the process to provide non-THC marijuana products to families of children with rare forms of epilepsy, authorized by lawmakers last year. Physicians are also allowed to prescribe it for cancer or severe muscle spasms. The state authorized five dispensing organizations to grow, process, and distribute medical marijuana. A three-member panel named winners of the licenses last month, one in each of the five regions of the state, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal.
Hawaii's State Department of Health has published its administrative rules, effective immediately, for the state's first medical marijuana dispensary licensing program. Applications for the licenses will be accepted in early January 2016. The rules provide security requirements, laboratory standards, and operational requirements such as seed-to-sale tracking mandates. The rules, unless revised, will remain in effect until July 1, 2018.
Oregon's Health Authority says the potential growers' fee increase is needed to help cover expenses due to the agency's recently expanded oversight of production and processing. The proposed fee increase is expected to boost revenue from $1.3 million to $5.2 million between 2015 to 2017. If finalized, the fee will go into effect March 1, 2016. The agency also proposed a $4,000 annual fee for medical marijuana processors, those who extract cannabis or produce concentrates. People who grow only for themselves will not be charged any additional expenses. Oregon's medical marijuana patients have complained about the cost of obtaining a card at $200. Oregon, Minnesota, and New Jersey have the highest medical marijuana patient fees in the U.S.