TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a blow to smaller companies hoping to enter the medical marijuana industry, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday that found that Florida’s regulations of the fledgling industry are constitutional.
Six of the seven justices found that in the case, Florida Department of Health, v. Florigrown, LLC, that Florigrown’s challenges to the state regulations did not have a “substantial likelihood of success.”
Florigrown, which was denied a license to become a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center in 2017, argued that Florida’s requirements did not comply with the medical marijuana constitutional amendment overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2016.
“This is a sad day for those of us that think the free market is what works best, and an even worse day for Florida patients who will continue to struggle with high prices and low supply,” said Jeff Marks, a co-owner of Florigrown, in a statement. “The people of Florida didn’t vote for this system created by the legislature where 22 mega-businesses completely control every aspect of medical cannabis. Floridians needed the Supreme Court to stand up for them, and today they declined to do that.”
The Tampa-based company’s arguments were threefold.
First, they challenged the state’s steep barriers to entry into the industry. The 2017 law regulating medical marijuana required that companies seeking licenses had to be able to operate in essentially every aspect of the business. Companies had to be able to “cultivate, process, transport, and dispense” medical marijuana under the law.
The constitutional amendment passed by voters defined a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center as a company that did any one of those things: “an entity that acquires, cultivates, possesses, processes ... or or administers marijuana.” Florigrown argued the state’s rules contradicted the language approved by voters.
Next, Florigrown argued that the state could not legally cap the number of companies licensed to sell medical marijuana. Before the 2016 constitutional amendment, seven companies had won licenses to sell low-THC marijuana to gravely ill patients. Under the 2017 law, lawmakers allowed for all of those entities — plus 10 additional applicants who narrowly missed out on the initial licensing opportunity — to become Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers.
In addition to those 17 licenses, the law spelled out that Florida would give out four more licenses for every 100,000 additional medical marijuana patients.
Florigrown argued that this unnecessarily restricted marijuana’s availability to patients, and thus was in conflict with the 2016 constitutional amendment.
Finally, Florigrown argued the 2017 law amounted to a giveaway for large companies already allowed to sell low-THC marijuana in Florida. Some of those companies have become the largest and most powerful marijuana companies in the state: Surterra Wellness, Curaleaf and Trulieve, were three examples.
The Florida Constitution prohibits so-called “special laws” which reward certain businesses over others. Florigrown argued the 2017 law amounted to a Special law.
The Court disagreed with all of those arguments Thursday.
