A THC Cap For Florida Patients
Once again, Florida legislators are pushing for a cap on THC in medical cannabis products sold in the dispensaries. While THC is most well known for the “high” that is associated with cannabis, it also provides for a wide range of therapeutic benefits that many patients require daily.
Some of those benefits include: pain relief, anti-inflammatory properties, anxiety relief, sleep inducing, stimulates appetites, and reduces nausea.
More specifically, the State is pushing for a cap of 10% on cannabis flower and a 60% cap on other products sold. For reference, THC in flower currently ranges from 15%-26%. Other products could be as high as 85-90% THC.
Why This is Bad
For most patients, a cap on THC would be both detrimental to their health as well as a hardship financially. These caps would require patients to use 50-160% more cannabis than they were for the same effects
Or worse, this would push patients back into the black market for cannabis.
This isn’t something dispensaries are cheering for either. Dispensaries are limited in how much medical cannabis they can dispense. Regardless of THC levels, dispensaries can only dispense 2.5 ounces of flower every 35 days.
This is a gigantic tax with no collected revenue. If passed, this proposal will be significantly felt by the nearly half a million Floridians that are dependent on medical cannabis. Especially in the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic.
Not to mention a decline in revenues could significantly hamper one the fastest growing job markets. In Florida the medical marijuana industry added over 15,000 jobs last year and employees nearly 33,000 Floridians.
This proposal simply hurts everyone and benefits no one.
You can find more information in this on going debate here at Health News Florida.
A petition by Florida For Care, a non profit organization found in 2014, has currently gathered 4,100 signatures at the time of this posting. The petition can be found here if you would like to sign.
