74 applicants vie for pot licenses

Ormond Beach Observer

Seventy-four prospective operators applied for 22 medical-marijuana licenses during a five-day application cycle that ended April 28.

The applications were a step toward doubling the number of businesses operating in the state’s legal cannabis industry.

Florida Department of Health officials in February issued a long-awaited rule announcing they would accept applications for new licenses between April 24 and April 28.

The applications were submitted more than six years after Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment broadly authorizing medical marijuana and after lawmakers in 2017 approved a framework for the industry.

Health officials on Tuesday confirmed they received 74 applications for the licenses. But the health agency has not released the names of the applicants or redacted versions of the applications.

Florida has 22 licensed medical-marijuana operators and more than 800,000 registered patients. The April round of applications was the first major opportunity for newcomers to the state’s industry to vie for licenses since the 2017 legislation passed.

An earlier round of licenses was based on a 2014 law that legalized non-euphoric cannabis for a limited number of patients. The 2017 law set up a schedule for new licenses to come online as the number of patients increases.

Under the law, health officials are required to issue at least 22 more licenses. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration put the licensing and rulemaking processes on hold while awaiting the outcome of a Florida Supreme Court ruling in a key lawsuit challenging part of the 2017 law that requires operators to conduct all aspects of the marijuana business --- growing, processing and dispensing --- rather than allowing companies to handle individual components of the marijuana trade.

The court upheld the law in May 2021. The April applications also come amid legal wrangling over a license earmarked in the 2017 law for a Black farmer who was part of class-action litigation over discriminatory lending practices by federal agriculture officials.

The Department of Health in September announced it had issued an “intent to approve” a medical-marijuana license for Terry Donnell Gwinn, who vied with 11 other applicants for the license.

Losing applicants have challenged the decision, however, and health officials have not issued Gwinn’s license. The Legislature last week approved a bill that would pave the way for Gwinn and an undetermined number of other Black farmer applicants to receive licenses.