The new rules will change the way operators apply for a medical marijuana license
Florida is considered one of the most promising medical marijuana markets in the United States due to its large and growing elderly population. During the first half of 2022, Florida had 22 licensed operators, while medical marijuana sales totaled over $1 billion.
On Monday, Florida's state health department began the long-awaited process of issuing up to 22 more medical marijuana licenses. Officials expect this move to more than quadruple the size of the state's medical marijuana sector.
The reason behind the higher medical marijuana license renewal fees
According to Governor Ron DeSantis this year, medical-marijuana firms were not paying enough to function in the state, so he increased the renewal costs to more than $50 million.
In addition, for every 100,000 new patients entering the market, state law mandates that authorities issue licenses for four additional treatment centers. However, the state has granted only one license since the 2015 application procedure. After last week, the state reported having more than 776,000 patients. The growing needs of patients call for 22 more licensed operators.
How the new license process works
According to one of the guidelines published on Monday d, the state will distribute the licenses in "batches," indicating that not all new licenses will be made accessible at once. However, the new regulation does not detail when the application period would begin or how many licenses would be available in each round. To add to the mystery, the waiting time between each batch was also not specified.
More than five years after the state's original licensing cycle, the rule also doubled the application price for new licenses to $146,000. The previous charge had been $60,830. While these prices are alarming for many medical marijuana operators in Miami, it is a necessary step to regulate the city’s multi-billion dollar market and make it more competitive.
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