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Florida medical marijuana patients living in Bay County may have to wait until May for local access. If patients are unable to wait, the closest dispensary to Bay County is in Tallahassee. There is also the option to hire a state-certified grower. The grower would be able to deliver to patients.
Due to local moratoriums, it is delaying patient access in the area, according to Orlando Sentinel. Panama City Beach has the shortest moratorium, which is slated to end on June 1. This is past the May speculation, but some cities may lift moratoriums sooner as the state approaches deadlines to have regulations in place.
When Amendment 2 was passed in November, it gave the state from January 3 through July 3 to make the amendment law. The deadline to put the law in place is October 3. According to Christian Bax, director for Office of Compassionate Use, that the DOH wants to have the rule-making process complete in early May. So this shows the process ahead-of-schedule.
A moratorium is not expected in Bay Count as the County Manager, Bob Majka says that it would end up in court.
Majka said, “We’re trying to take a common-sense, critically thought-out approach to this. I think that if we were to say that zero would be allowed, we would be in direct conflict with the will of the voters, so that’s not an issue.”
Some are claiming that moratoriums are passed specifically to go against the will of the people.
To that, Majka said, “We’re not trying to limit access, and we’re not trying to prohibit access.”
The current, eight-month moratorium is to ensure that the proper rules are adopted and that dispensaries are ready to go and can remain compliant as the laws are finalized. Changes may affect where dispensaries can open up shop, so to prevent further delays, these steps are necessary.
It is expected that actual regulatory framework will be replacing these moratoriums soon so that Bay County residents will have access to medical marijuana sooner, rather than later.
