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Nursery Loses Bid For Medical Marijuana License

Bruce Knox of Knox Nursery in a video submitted to the state as part of his medical marijuana application.
WMFE
Bruce Knox of Knox Nursery in a video submitted to the state as part of his medical marijuana application.

The state on Thursday issued a final order rejecting a Northeast Florida nursery's attempt to get a license to grow, process and dispense non-euphoric medical marijuana.

Surgeon General Celeste Philip, who serves as secretary of the Department of Health, signed a 36-page order that largely upheld a recommendation by an administrative law judge on the application by The case is rooted in a 2014 law that legalized non-euphoric cannabis for certain medical conditions. The law ordered the Department of Health to award one "dispensing organization" license in each of five regions of the state.

The department awarded a license in the Northeast region to and later granted a second license to after an administrative law judge ruled that San Felasco's application had been wrongly rejected. Loop's also sought a license in the region, but Administrative Law Judge R. Bruce McKibben issued a recommended order in October that said the application should be denied.

Under administrative law, the recommendation then went to the Department of Health for issuance of a final order.

Lawmakers last year expanded the 2014 law to allow full-strength marijuana for terminally ill patients. Voters in November approved a constitutional amendment that will expand access to full-strength cannabis for patients with a wide range of conditions.

Copyright 2017 Health News Florida

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