A new report by a Florida state panel shows that the number of medical marijuana patients registered in Florida continued to grow during the fiscal year 2023. However, the growth rate slowed a bit from the previous years due to the maturation of the system and the attention being focused on a measure to legalize adult use of the drug which may be put before voters in November.
In fiscal 2023, the number of patients in the program grew 15 percent compared to the prior year. This is down from the 25 percent increase from 2021-2022.
The average daily doses were also lower in the last fiscal year (FY), which spanned from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, due in part to the implementation by the state of an rule setting daily dosage limits. The report found that, as in previous years, only a small number of doctors certified to recommend medical cannabis wrote the majority of certifications for patients.
Physician Certification Pattern Review, 2024 Annual Report
The annual report 2024 Physician Certification pattern Review was produced by Florida’s Physician Certification Panel, which is a seven member body created by statute jointly by the Florida Board of Medicine & Board of Osteopathic Medicine. By law, the panel must issue findings and make recommendations regarding the state’s cannabis program before January 1 of each year.
The report states that “based on a review the data for FYs 2020, 2021 and 2022,” “the data has reflected an increase in the number physician certifications. Physician certifications that contain at least one order to smoke as a route for administration, and the distinct number qualified patients who have certifications.”
In fiscal 2023, the number of patients enrolled in the program increased to 859 026, up from 757 600 in fiscal 2012. In fiscal 2021 the number of participants in the program reached 607 220. The number of monthly enrollees has been decreasing, but not by much.
The report states that comparing January 2020 with January 2021, enrollments of new patients increased by 27 percent. However, they decreased by 6 percent from January 2021 to January 2022. The enrollments decreased 3 percent from month to month the following year. In June 2023, the most recent month-to-month count, 20,977 new patients were enrolled in the program.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was the most prevalent condition, accounting for 40.2 percent, followed by chronic pain without malignancy (13.4 percent), Multiple Sclerosis (8.8 per cent), and Cancer (3.6 per cent).
Over a quarter qualified for conditions that were not specified, but “of the kind or class” or “comparable” to those listed. According to the report, most of these patients had anxiety or conditions that were related to “chronic muscle or neuro degeneration, or injuries,” as well as conditions related digestive problems, infectious diseases, or connective tissues.
Physician Certification Pattern Review, 2024 Annual Report
The report stated that the number of physician certifications, which allows patients to participate in medical marijuana programs, has “continued to increase with each reporting year.”
The number of annual certifications rose by 15 percent in fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2023, from 1,142.172 to 1,315.123. This was a slower growth rate than the 24 per cent between fiscal 2021 and 2022.
A different section of the document states that monthly certificates increased by 48 percent from January 2020 to January 2021. Then, by 24 percent, between January 2021 and 2022. The rate of certifications rose at a slower pace during the last full reporting year, January 2022 to Jan 2023. They increased by 21 percent.
In June 2023 there were 117 313 certifications. This is up from 113 992 in January 2023.
A minority of doctors continue to issue the majority of medical marijuana certificates, according to a report. This trend has been continuing for years. The report stated that “this ratio has been rising” as a small number of doctors continue to see more and more patients, who then go on to receive certifications in subsequent fiscal years.
In fiscal 2023, the top 19 percent of physicians qualified issued 84 per cent of all certifications. The bottom 40 percent issued only 1 per cent of certifications.
The report lists the top five doctors in the state who recommend low-THC products or medical marijuana. The data shows that even though the doctors were anonymized by a two-letter code, some of them issued certifications to thousands of patients for years.
Some politicians have been skeptical about Florida’s medical cannabis program. Governor. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, recently said, for instance, that the rise in medical marijuana patients is due to people who use the law as “pretexts” for recreational cannabis.
DeSantis also signed a law that went into effect last summer. It restricted medical marijuana advertising and the manufacturing of . This bill prohibited any products or messages which promote “recreational cannabis use” while increasing eligibility requirements for industry workers.
In June, the governor approved a bill that explicitly prohibited sober living homes from allowing their residents to possess or to use medical marijuana. This is true even if a patient has been certified by a physician to use cannabis legally therapeutically according to state law. Nevertheless, all other pharmaceuticals prescribed by doctors may be allowed.
DeSantis banned the sale of all consumable hemp products, including cannabis “chewing-gum” to people under 21 in July. This was an extension of a previous prohibition against young people being allowed to buy smokable hemp.
Last week, DeSantis criticised Colorado‘s legalization of marijuana, claiming it had led to a rise in the illicit cannabis market.
In an attempt to place a marijuana legalization measure on the ballot for 2024, officials arrested last month two paid canvassers who were accused of falsifying signatures.
The organizer of , a separate Florida ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana cultivation by patients withdrew their proposal recently. They explained that the campaign had raised only a little more than $4,000 but could not cover the costs of trying to qualify this measure.
A Florida Republican Senator introduced a bill in the legislature last month that would allow medical cannabis businesses licensed to claim state tax deductions, which they are not allowed to claim at the federal level, under an Internal Revenue Service code (IRS) known as 280E.
A separate bill was filed by a GOP legislator last week that would limit recreational marijuana flower’s potency to 10 percent, if the voters approve of legalization.
Feds Release Marijuana Records, Confirming Schedule III recommendation Based on ‘Accepted medical use’
The article Florida’s ‘Steady increase’ in Medical Marijuana Certifications Will Continue In 2023 According To State Report first appeared on Marijuana Moment.
