Smoking the medication was not allowed under a statute passed by the Florida State Legislature, however this ban was struck down by Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers on May 25, 2018.
Orlando attorney John Morgan, and chairman for United For Care, a non-profit group for the legalization of medical marijuana, has said that he intends to sue the state over the proposed changes.
[7] On June 24, the law became effective and it includes eliminating the initial 90-day waiting period for the use of medical marijuana and added chronic nonmalignant pain as a qualifying condition.
[8] Some Florida cities, including Boca Raton, Coral Gables, Delray Beach, the Village of Golf and Homestead, have banned medical marijuana dispensaries since it is illegal under federal law.
Initial analysis of various applications shows a strong bias in some regions towards the winners, despite them not being qualified in cannabis cultivation, science, medicine or growing plants meant for human consumption.
[11] Critics assert that barriers to entry into the market would be constructed to keep out small businesses, people of color, woman ownership, and only allow wealthy white males that are politically connected to participate.
According to Ben Pollara, campaign chairman of the political committee that backed the constitutional amendment stated that "it not only maintains, but strengthens the cartel system of licensed marijuana growers in Florida and that prices will be high, quality will be low, choices will be few, and patients will be driven to the black market".
[14] On July 9, 2019, Florida's First District Court of Appeal issued a major ruling declaring the mandatory vertical integration and license caps unconstitutional.
Arguing that Florida state legislators violated voters' intent when they prohibited smoking for the medical use of marijuana, John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer who spearheaded and financed the successful campaign to make medical access to cannabis a constitutional right, filed a lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court on July 6, 2017, asking the court to declare the law implementing the 2016 constitutional amendment unenforceable.
Saying that the amendment doesn't overtly address smoking "misses the point," he added that banning it "takes discretion out of the hands of patients and physicians."
The Florida Department of Health said the state is expected to appeal, which likely would place Gievers' order legalizing the smoking of medical marijuana on temporary hold.
"Without any corresponding benefit to the defendants (the Department of Health), the automatic stay increases the pain and suffering of the individual plaintiffs and denies them access to a constitutionally permitted medical treatment.
A separate lawsuit was filed in December 2017 by Florigrown LLC alleging that the mandatory vertical licensing scheme required by the “implementing” statute passed by the legislature is unconstitutional.
[26] Various commentators labeled the select few businesses that were able to obtain one of the coveted licenses a “cartel.”[27] The successful legal challenge was led by lawyers Ari H. Gerstin Archived 2019-07-16 at the Wayback Machine and Jonathan S. Robbins of Akerman LLP.
[33] The United for Care committee is chaired by Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, who has largely bankrolled the Florida medical marijuana effort by contributing at least $6.5 million towards the initiative, and $326,438 in November, 2016.
[33][34] Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson donated $500,000 towards the effort to thwart the bill,[34] including a contribution of $1 million to the Drug-Free Florida Committee, who also fought the initiative.
Lastly, they stated that there's a right to privacy clause in the bill that would enable criminals to discreetly create "a new pipeline for pot [to get] into high schools throughout Florida.
The State committee, Drug-Free Florida, spent $704,389 in the weeks before the general election by producing television ads declaring, "marijuana has no medicinal purposes.