marijuana

A group of Florida lawmakers is hoping there’s still time this session to move legislation forward that would expand marijuana use beyond the state’s current medical-only program. They’re also hoping to stop legislation some worry could shrink the current program.

Florida doctors on Thursday pushed back against allegations that the state’s medical-marijuana program is being used by people seeking to get high for fun. The physicians spoke out after a committee approved a controversial proposal being pushed by Republican lawmakers in the state House.

The proposal, approved in a party-line vote by the House Professions & Public Health Subcommittee, would place a 10 percent THC cap on smokable marijuana and limit THC levels to 60 percent in most other medical-marijuana products. THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive component of marijuana that makes users feel high.

Within the next few years hemp farming in Florida is projected to grow to about half the size of the state's citrus industry. Much of that growth is driven by CBD production.

A proposed bill could make it easier for people with minor marijuana convictions to clear their records.

The legislation removes cannabis from the list of federally controlled substances and expunges low-level convictions and arrests. But the GOP Senate is not expected to take up the bill.

The vote follows World Health Organization guidance saying that due to cannabis' therapeutic use and other factors, it "is not consistent with the criteria" for a Schedule IV drug.

The Florida Supreme Court made the unusual move Wednesday of hearing a second round of arguments in a challenge to a state law aimed at implementing a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.

The emergency rule, posted on the state Department of Health website Wednesday and distributed to industry insiders the same day, requires edible products to be in geometric shapes, bans “icing, sprinkles, or other toppings of any kind” and said the products cannot “bear a reasonable resemblance to commercially available candy.”

TALLAHASSEE --- With Attorney General Ashley Moody, lawmakers and groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce trying to block the measure, the state…

After more than five years, Boca Raton decided to join the growing number of South Florida communities that allow medical marijuana dispensaries.Boca had…

Every Jan. 1, states across the country implement new laws. Some groundbreaking new laws address Internet user privacy and the classification of contract workers in California, for example.