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A new Republican-led bill in Florida is aimed at expanding access to medical marijuana, including by adding new qualifying conditions, waiving fees for military veterans, letting doctors issue recommendations through telehealth and allowing out-of-state patients to participate in the program, among other provisions.
The measure, SB 552, was introduced on Friday by Sen. Joe Gruters (R). If enacted, it would allow people to qualify for medical cannabis if they have a “condition for which the patient was prescribed an opioid drug listed as a Schedule II controlled substance.”
The legislation would also require the state Department of Health to establish procedures to permit medical marijuana patients registered in other states to obtain marijuana from Florida dispensaries. Officials would need to issue “medical marijuana use registry identification cards” to qualifying individuals within one of patients making the request.
Another change proposed by the bill would waive registration and renewal fees for participants in the program who were honorably discharged from the U.S. armed forces.
Other provisions would require patients to renew their registration in the system only once every two years rather than annually, allow physicians to recommend larger amounts of marijuana and reduce the frequency with which a patient would need to be evaluated by a doctor.
Patients could also be recommended medical marijuana through a telehealth visit with a doctor, rather than in person. Currently only renewals can be through telehealth visits, while initial certifications must be handled in person.
Yet another change in the 10-page bill would forbid dispensaries from operating on the same parcel of land as a gas station or where motor fuel is offered for sale.
Also last week, Gruters reintroduced a proposal that would allow medical marijuana patients in the state to grow up to two cannabis plants at home—this time without separate provisions he had included in prior legislation that would have also cracked down on hemp-derived cannabinoids in the state.
That bill, SB 456, would allow state-registered cannabis patients 21 and older to grow up to two plants for personal use provided they first apply for and obtain a certificate from the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The department would need to establish procedures “for the issuance, renewal, suspension, replacement, surrender, and revocation of such certificates, including rules providing for the inspection and registration of each cannabis plant.”
Renters would also need to provide documentation when applying to show that their landlord consents to cannabis being grown on the property.
Further, cultivation would need to occur out of public view and “in an enclosed, locked space to prevent access by unauthorized persons and persons younger than 21 years of age.”
Gruters, a former chair of the Florida Republican Party, was a proponent of the backed legalization measure Amendment 3 last November—which would not have legalized home cultivation—appearing in an ad alongside Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) to argue that the reform would be “good for Florida” despite strong pushback from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Gruters and Kim Rivers—the CEO of Trulieve, a medical marijuana company that provided the bulk of funding for Amendment 3—also met with Trump ahead of his endorsement of the constitutional amendment, as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access.
Meanwhile, just months after the Florida marijuana legalization initiative failed at the ballot, the campaign has filed a revised version in hopes of getting a second shot in 2026.
Smart & Safe Florida’s 2024 measure did receive a majority of the vote in November, but it fell short of a steep 60 percent threshold to pass constitutional amendments under state law.
Separately, lawmakers in Florida this session have also introduced bills that would protect medical marijuana patients from discrimination in government jobs and prevent state courts from restricting certain parental rights based solely on a person’s status as a qualified cannabis patient.
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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
Ben Adlin, a senior editor at Marijuana Moment, has been covering cannabis and other drug policy issues professionally since 2011, specializing in politics, state legislation, litigation, science and health. He was previously the senior news editor at Leafly, where he co-led news coverage and co-hosted a critically acclaimed weekly podcast; an associate editor at The Los Angeles Daily Journal, where he covered federal courts and municipal law; and a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. He’s a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles and currently lives in Washington State.
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