The cannabis business seems to be booming, with new dispensaries opening in all corners of Florida.
More distributors are expected to enter Florida’s cannabis sector in the next year.
But there are challenges and restrictions around this emerging market.
Attorney Matthew Ginder is senior counsel in the Cannabis Law practice group at the South Florida firm Greenspoon Marder.
“The federal illegality of marijuana carries with it risks. Whether it’s banking, tax treatment, just the risk associated with a substance the federal government still considers illegal,” said Ginder.
In January, New York marijuana investment firm iAnthus Capital Holdings bought a Florida operation called GrowHealthy for $47.5 million. Florida law requires medical marijuana companies to be based in the state but does not restrict outside ownership.
Meanwhile, a state law banning patients from smoking medical marijuana is unconstitutional, a Tallahassee judge ruled late Friday.
In a highly anticipated but not surprising decision, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers found that a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2016 that broadly legalized medical marijuana gives eligible patients the right to smoke the treatment in private.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
Melissa Ross can be reached at mross@wjct.org, 904-358-6382 or on Twitter at @MelissainJax.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
