Another Florida Committee Approves Bill To Slash Medical Marijuana Fee For Military Veterans

Another Florida committee has approved a bill to significantly reduce the
fee for military veterans to obtain medical marijuana registry
identification cards, slashing the cost to one-fifth of the current amount.

About a week after moving through the House Health Professions & Programs
Subcommittee, members of the House Health Care Budget Subcommittee followed
suit and advanced the legislation from Reps. Susan Valdés (R) and Michelle
Salzman (R) in a unanimous on Thursday.

Valdés called the proposal “a simple bill with a big impact” ahead of the
vote.

“Medical cannabis has shown promise in alleviating symptoms commonly
experienced by military veterans, like managing chronic pain, alleviating
the effects of PTSD, improving sleep and reducing the dependency on
opioids, which is really the most important part of this,” she said. “This
bill will largely reduce the financial barriers veterans face when
accessing medical marijuana, which is also their chosen healthcare
solution.”

If enacted into law, veterans who have been honorably discharged would need
to pay a $15 fee to obtain a medical cannabis card—down from the current
$75 fee for most qualifying patients.

The $15 charge would also apply to any replacement cards, as well as annual
renewals.

In order to qualify for the reduced fee, veterans would need to supply the
state Department of Health (DOH) with a copy of their discharge release
form, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) identification card or a
Florida driver license “bearing the veteran designation.”

The law would take effect beginning on July 1 of this year.

According to a bill analysis, the reform would have an “indeterminate,
negative fiscal impact on DOH.” While there are currently more than 931,000
registered medical marijuana patients in Florida, the “number of veterans
who hold active medical marijuana use registry identification cards is
unknown,” and so “the amount of revenue reduction is unknown.”

That said, the analysis states that the policy change would “have a
positive fiscal impact on veterans who will experience a $60 reduction in
the cost of the identification card under the bill.”

The subcommittee vote son the fee reduction bill comes after the Senate
Regulated Industries Committee advanced separate legislation to ban smoking
or vaping marijuana in public places. Rep. Alex Andrade (R) is sponsoring a
similar bill to ban public cannabis smoking in the House of Representatives.

*Here’s an overview of other pending Florida marijuana bills:*

- A House lawmaker is sponsoring a bill to legalize recreational
marijuana that also aims to break up what he calls “monopolies” in the
state’s current medical cannabis program by revising the business licensing
structure.
- Another representative’s bill would protect the parental rights of
medical cannabis patients, preventing them from losing custody of their
children for using their medicine in accordance with state law.
- Other lawmakers are sponsoring legislation to expand the state’s
medical marijuana program, in part by increasing supply limits for
patients and waiving registration fees for honorably discharged military
veterans. The proposals would also allow doctors to recommend cannabis
to any patient who has a condition for which they have been prescribed
opioids.
- A senator is sponsoring a bill to legalize home cultivation of
marijuana for registered medical cannabis patients in the state.


*— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug
policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon
supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps,
charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.*


*Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on
Patreon to get access. —*

Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday cancelled oral arguments
and closed a case concerning a marijuana legalization ballot initiative
that was under review at the request of the state attorney general.

Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) notified the court on Monday that he
was withdrawing his request for a legal review into the cannabis measure
because election officials determined the campaign behind it had fallen
short of the signature requirements for ballot placement. But while the
campaign urged the court to reject the notice of dismissal, contesting the
signature count, justices on Wednesday accepted the attorney general’s
motion.

Smart & Safe Florida has disputed the secretary of state’s signature count,
claiming the campaign submitted over 1.4 million petitions—hundreds of
thousands more than the 880,062 valid signatures required to go before
voters.

In a filing with the Supreme Court, Uthmeier said his office was
withdrawing its earlier request for a legal review in the constitutionality
of the proposed cannabis initiative because the state claims the campaign
submitted an insufficient number of signed petitions. The last count,
according to the secretary of state’s office, was 783,592 validated
signatures.

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Fee For Military Veterans appeared first on Marijuana Moment.