Official: Florida patients can get medical marijuana in 90 days
TALLAHASSEE — Patients who qualify for medical marijuana under November’s voter-approved constitutional amendment can start getting cannabis in as little as 90 days, the state’s top pot cop said Wednesday.
Whether patients would be able to start buying medical marijuana before the Department of Health approves rules to carry out the amendment, a process that could take at least six months, has been a source of confusion for many doctors, patients and businesses.
Florida law already allows fullstrength medical marijuana, but only for terminally ill patients, as well as low-THC, or non-euphoric, marijuana for patients with epilepsy, chronic muscle spasms or cancer. Under the law, doctors must treat patients for at least 90 days before being able to enter orders for any type of cannabis treatment into a statewide database.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the constitutional amendment during the Nov. 8 election. Some doctors started a push to establish the three-month relationships with patients even before the amendment became law Jan. 3.
Some questioned if doctors could do so because the current law restricts physicians to ordering full-strength marijuana only for terminally ill patients.
But state Office of Compassionate Use Director Christian Bax told reporters that it is up to doctors to decide if they want to order marijuana for patients, months before new rules are expected to go into effect.
“A physician can create an order once that 90 days has happened. At that point, or any time in the future, the physician can create an order for cannabis,” Bax said after testifying at the House Health Quality Subcommittee.
“And that patient can get that order filled?” he was asked. “Yes,” he said. Bax said doctors should follow both the current law and the constitutional amendment, which authorizes marijuana for patients with a wide range of medical conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, glaucoma, HIV, post-traumatic stress disorder and Crohn’s disease.