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Florida Issues Intent to Approve First Black Farmer for Medical Cannabis License

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After navigating a number of regulatory obstacles, Florida’s Department of Health announced it issued a “written notice of intent” to approve the license of the state’s first Black medical cannabis cultivator, according to the News Service of Florida.

Terry Donnell Gwinn, the 69-year-old owner of Gwinn Brothers Farm in Suwannee County, beat out 11 other applicants competing for the license. He named his prospective cannabis farm “Gwinn Brothers Medicinals,” as he and his brother have farmed together for more than 40 years, with “deep roots in the community,” growing a wide array of crops including watermelons, soybeans, peanuts, corn and peas on their 1,137-acre farm.

Gwinn’s attorney, Jim McKee, spoke out to the News Service of Florida shortly after the move:

“Mr. Gwinn is very pleased that his application was selected for licensure and is grateful for the hard work by the Florida Department of Health, Office of Medical Marijuana Use, to complete the review of the applications received,” McKee said in a statement. “He looks forward to working with the office to complete the final steps to licensure.”

It was a lengthy process to get to this point. The state first began awarding cannabis licenses in 2015, and the initial rules were met with criticism, with claims that they contained discriminatory elements that worked to favor white farmers. In 2017, regulators passed a law aimed at awarding new licenses as the number of medical cannabis patients in the state continued to increase. The law calls for at least 22 more licenses, including Gwinn’s license, to account for the state’s more than 750,000 patients.

The resulting 2017 law also included a provision requiring health officials to issue a license to a Black farmer, as no Black farmers in Florida were able to meet eligibility requirements for an earlier round of state licenses. For eligibility, Black farmers had to show they had done business in Florida for a minimum of five years. Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration started accepting applications for the license in March.

Immediately, prospective applicants were met with a roadblock, as the Department of Health’s application process included a nonrefundable fee of $146,000, more than double what prospective operators paid the last time an application process opened. The Legislature then passed a law saying that entities deemed eligible for the Black farmer license wouldn’t have to pay to apply for licenses in the future.

The report notes that the decision is “almost certain” to result in litigation from those applicants who lost out—All but five of the 22 medical cannabis businesses operating in the state were issued licenses following lengthy legal and administrative challenges.

David Russell, a Tallahassee lawyer with the Dean Mead firm representing one of the applicants, tells the News Service that “everybody who lost” will challenge the decision.

“We all saw how this went last time,” Russell said. “There were supposed to be five licensees and now there’s more than 20, and it happened via litigation strategies and lobbying strategies. So that’s what we’re going to do again.”

 However, there is speculation that, in addition to awarding the license to a Black farmer, this week’s decision could set the stage for health officials to continue adding to the number of medical cannabis operators in the state, finally honoring the 2017 law.

Earlier in September, a Florida appeals judge criticized the state over its failure to issue the additional licenses required under the law. First District Court of Appeals Judge Ross Bilbrey said at the time that applicants are “understandably frustrated with the ongoing failure of the Department of Health to open the application window and issue Medical Marijuana Treatment Center (MMTC) licenses as required by the Florida Constitution.”

Bilbrey added, “Almost five years after the emergency rule was issued, the MMTC license application window remains closed.”

A number of Florida lawmakers also called attention to the years-long delay to award a license to a Black farmer this time last year.

If the process so far is any indicator, continuing to own up to the 2017 law may take some time, though hopefully Gwinn’s license will be a catalyst for growth within the Sunshine State’s medical cannabis industry.