A Florida House committee has approved legislation that will preemptively cap the potency of recreational marijuana in advance of any vote on an initiative to legalize it on the November ballot.
On Thursday, the House Health and Human Services Committee passed a bill that would ban dispensaries from selling cannabis flower for adult use with a THC potency greater than 30%. The vote was 14-6.
The legislation would limit all other cannabis products to 60 percent THC. It would also mandate that edible products have a serving size of 10 milligrams or less THC, with a total amount per package not exceeding 200 mg.
The committee passed an amendment before voting on the bill to limit the size of cannabis vape cartridges. The amendment removes an expiration date in the current law which would have repealed the current medical marijuana program law six month after the adoption of a marijuana constitutional amendement, like the one on the November ballot.
Rep. Ralph Massullo, the bill ‘s ‘s sponsor, told his colleagues that we are only just beginning to understand the long-term potential benefits and harms associated with using marijuana high in THC.
“It is important that we as elected representatives protect the public against potential harms including harms which could occur from adult-use marijuana,” said.
As originally introduced, Massullo’s legislation would have set a limit of 10 percent for the THC content in flower cannabis . However, this was increased to 30 percent at a hearing held by a subcommittee earlier this month.
The Senate is also moving forward with similar cannabis potency restrictions.
Florida’s medical marijuana dosage limits are not based on THC content.
Governor Rick Scott has announced that the measure to legalize marijuana will be on Florida’s ballot in November. Ron DeSantis recently predicted that activists would win in court against a challenge by the Attorney General who wants to stop the vote.
The governor, at his last presidential campaign event held in New Hampshire in the month of October, said: “I think that the court will approve that so it’ll be put on the ballot.”
The Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has requested that the court invalidate the ballot measure despite activists having collected nearly one million valid signatures. The official successfully petitioned the justices in order to stop a 2022 initiative being considered by voters.
The governor says that this time, it won’t happen. He opposes reform, and promised not to decriminalize cannabis if elected President while he ran for office. But he believes voters will have a chance to make a decision this time.
The state Supreme Court has yet to issue a decision in the case vs. the Smart and Safe Florida Campaign. The state Supreme Court will have to make a decision by April 1.
DeSantis recently weighed in with another important cannabis policy issue when he stated that the federal gun prohibition for state-legal pot consumers is not constitutional. Florida’s former Agriculture Commissioner filed a lawsuit against Biden administration for the rule. The governor didn’t get involved.
A recent poll by the Florida Chamber of Commerce showed that , the reform proposal has the majority of support among likely voters — but not enough to reach the steep 60 percent threshold required for passage in the state.
Other polls show that voters have more than enough support to pass the legalization measure. The University of North Florida conducted a poll that revealed 67 percent of voters support the initiative.
Trulieve, a multi-state marijuana firm, has donated over $40 million so far to the Smart and Safe Florida Campaign. The state attorney general accused the company that it was supporting the measure to gain a “monopolistic grip” on the cannabis market in the state.
In the meantime, legislation to limit consumable hemp products has also advanced in the Florida legislature .
A House subcommittee has also recently advanced a bill on medical marijuana that would waive the registration and renewal fees of service-disabled veterans.
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The post Florida Lawmakers Adopt THC Potency Limits for Marijuana Before Possible Recreational Legalization Vote first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
