Florida’s First Medical Cannabis Collective Opens Doors!

Trulieve will be the first cannabis collective to open doors in the state of Florida on Tuesday. Trulieve is one of the state’s six companies licensed to grow, distribute and dispense cannabis. On Wednesday, Trulieve received formal Authorization to Process and Authorization to Dispense from Florida’s Department of Health.

“We are happy to announce that we have passed all inspections—from growing and processing to dispensing—and are the very first medical cannabis provider in the state to receive these formal authorizations. And we are most excited to get this much anticipated medicine to the patients of Florida,” Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers told ABC Action News. “The Department of Health staff and leadership have been consummate professionals throughout this entire process. They have been accessible and knowledgeable all along the way, and we simply could not ask for better public servants.”

Sales will begin shortly at Trulieve’s Tallahassee facility at 800 Capital Circle. The company has been working for over two years to get to this point. Patients can get authorized through the official state registry. Only Florida residents will be able to use the state’s medical cannabis program. Doctors must pass a state exam in order to prescribe medical cannabis.

Trulieve grows its own cannabis at its processing plant, Hackney Nurseries, based in Quincy. The company participates in every step of the cultivation process. Per Florida law, cannabis collectives can only dispense low-THC, high-CBD strains. Trulieve will be selling Vita Jay, its own low-THC, high-CBD strain of cannabis.

Florida’s Right to Try law allows patients with terminal illnesses to be approved for high-THC strains. In order to qualify, patients must be declared terminally ill from two physicians.

This November, Florida voters will vote on Amendment 2, which would allow full-strength cannabis and provide relief for an estimated 450,000 additional patients. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson has been funding millions into a comprehensive anti-cannabis ad campaign.

Trulieve hopes to release their own high-THC strain of cannabis by August.