A Florida judge has ruled the state’s ban on smoking medical cannabis unconstitutional, calling the Legislature-approved ban “invalid and unenforceable.”
“Qualifying patients have the right to use the form of medical marijuana for [the] treatment of their debilitating medical condition as recommended by their certified physicians, including the use of smokable marijuana in private places.” – Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers in the May 25 ruling
However patients will not be able to access smokable products immediately as the state Department of Health has appealed the ruling which imposes an automatic stay, the Associated Press reports.
The lawsuit was filed by attorney John Morgan who was also a key financial backer in the Amendment 2 campaign, which expanded the state’s limited medical cannabis program and added it to the state constitution. The Legislature was responsible for creating rules and implementing the regime.
This is the second blow to the Legislature-approved limits placed on the program in as many months. Last month, Gievers ruled that Count Joe Redner, a stage 4 lung cancer survivor and medical cannabis patient, could legally grow his own cannabis “solely for the purpose of his emulsifying the biomass he needs for the juicing protocol recommended by his physician.” The Legislature had banned patients from growing their own cannabis plants. That decision was also appealed by the Health Department and a stay ordered.