Florida Governor Ron De Santis signed SB182 into law yesterday.  SB182 redefines medical use of marijuana to include possession, use or administration of marijuana in the form of smoking.

The new law also triggered the dismissal of an appellate court action regarding the constitutionality of Florida’s medical marijuana law which previously banned the smoking of medical marijuana.

Notwithstanding the new law legalizing smokable medical marijuana it will take time for dispensaries to start selling it, since the Florida Department of Health will have to institute regulations and procedures for the new product.  If the past is predictive of the present, it could take a year for new regulations to be issued by the Florida Department of Health.  The new law also legalized the purchase and possession of smoking paraphernalia.

Medical marijuana patients will still need a prescription from a doctor and a Florida medical marijuana patient i.d. card to purchase smokable medical marijuana.  Additionally, nothing in the new law permits or authorizes smoking medical marijuana in public, in an enclosed work area, or on public transportation.  Further, the owners of private property can ban smokable medical marijuana on their property.

Children will also be able to use smokable medical marijuana if they suffer from a terminal illness and they have received two opinions from two doctors that they should utilize smokable medical marijuana.