Cap on Medical Cannabis Licenses Rejected By Circuit Judge Again

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he cap on the total number of medical cannabis licenses was struck down once again in Florida. The restriction on the number of licenses that could be granted to medical cannabis treatment centers (MMTCs) was included in a 2017 medical cannabis law. But a Quincy-based medical cannabis provider, Trulieve challenged the law, arguing that the limit “arbitrarily impairs product availability and safety” and “unfairly penalizes” cannabis suppliers.

The cap was set to 25 dispensaries for each operator and was supposed to increase gradually as the number of eligible patients in a statewide database increased. At the moment, the limit is set at 30 and that quota is projected to end in 2020.

Siding with Truelieve, Circuit Judge Karen Gievers  rejected the law and wrote on her ruling that “The evidence clearly and conclusively establishes beyond any doubt that conveniently located medical marijuana dispensaries (as opposed to vehicle delivery, the only allowed alternative means of dispensing) promote authorized users’ improved access to medical marijuana products and related information and services, at lower cost, and promote public safety (the stated goals for regulation in the amendment),” Gievers wrote in her judgment. The statutory cap “erects barriers that needlessly increase patients’ costs, risks, and inconvenience, delay access to products, and reduce patients’ practical choice, information, privacy and safety,” she wrote.

Gievers also struck down the health department’s proposition that regulating the number of dispensaries would eventually help cannabis operators avoid the risks that come with overexpansion, saying that “the evidence shows the contrary, with risks increased to MMTCs after the fact 2017 cap. Handicapping existing, performing, competitive businesses to help less competitive businesses, at the expense of consumer efficiency and choice, is not rationally related to a legitimate public purpose.”

Gievers ordered health officials to allow Trulieve to have a total of 34 dispensary licenses and to stop enforcing the number of dispensary cap, which she believes does not support what residents voted for originally.