Smokable medical pot sold in state despite objections
TALLAHASSEE — Even while Florida lawmakers have insisted they do not want patients to smoke pot, one of the state’s seven licensed medical marijuana vendors Tuesday began selling whole-flower cannabis.
Florida law bans patients from smoking the substance, but doesn’t prohibit vendors from selling marijuana buds meant for use in vaporizers — but which also can be smoked in joints, pipes or other delivery devices.
Trulieve, one of seven licensed medical marijuana operators in Florida, started selling the wholeflower product Tuesday, just days after lawmakers failed to reach agreement on a measure to carry out a voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for patients with a broad swath of debilitating conditions.
Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers told The News Service of Florida on Wednesday her company has sold whole-leaf products in different forms for nearly a year. Those products, however, were ground up, unlike the new bud-like product that can be smoked.
Quincy-based Trulieve’s new product, first sold Tuesday, comes in canisters designed for use with vaporizer pens. But patients can easily use the substance in other ways, such as in joints, bongs or pipes — consumption methods off-limits under state law.
Rivers said whole-leaf products are critical for patients seeking the “entourage effect” that results from consumption of wholeflower marijuana, as opposed to processed cannabis products, such as oils or other derivatives.
“We feel very strongly that having products available that allow patients to have a choice and to benefit from the entourage effect ... is critical. So if that means we’re pushing the envelope, we’ve had a form of whole-flower vaporizer available from the day we’ve opened. This has always been part of our product line and will continue to be in the future,” Rivers said.
Trulieve’s new product went on the market after Monday’s end of the 2017 legislative session, during which lawmakers insisted they wanted to impose a ban on smoking marijuana products.
The session ended without legislators reaching a consensus on implementation of the constitutional amendment, approved by over 71 percent of voters.