A recent court recommendation to Florida's Department Of Health by Administrative Law Judge John Van Laningham, suggested the OMMU issue a new medical marijuana dispensary license to, Nature’s Way Nursery of Miami, Inc. The June 19th recommendation order was issued because of the Department Of Health's, Office Of Medical Marijuana Use failed to issue licenses in a timely manner, since the inception of MMJ in Florida. The OMMU has had serious delays in approving patients and dispensaries for new licenses since 2015.
Jon Van Laningham's recommendation to immediately issue Miami based Natures Way a dispensary a license was done by the OMMU. They have also approved 4 additional dispensary licenses to be available this year, leaving them up-for-grabs for business owners scrambling to submit a completed application, along with financials and more.
The total active dispensary licenses total 13 in Florida as of 2018 with the addition of Natures Way bringing that to 14.
The Department Of Health expects over 400 new applicants to submit applications for the remaining 4 licenses, up for grabs.
Florida is a top destination for dispensaries looking to sell volume marijuana products, to approved patients. Florida's population tops a staggering 21 Million and over 500,000 patients will be approved to legally buy and use cannabis by 2019. The OMMU reports that over 140,000 new patients have been approved for medical marijuana in Florida and the industry is poised to be worth over 2 Billion Dollars by 2020.
One of the new licenses up-for-grabs must be given to a black farmer because of legislation enacted in 2017 which makes the available number 3 since there's already litigation being conducted for this license.
The Office Of Medical Marijuana Use has also requested the courts grant them more money for dispensary licensing, since a recent Florida dispensary license holder who had not begun processing cannabis yet, sold for over 53 Million Dollars in 2018.
The request outlines the additional 7.3 Million the OMMU will incur due to the 20 pending lawsuits already filed around the medical marijuana industry in Florida. There is still pending cases about Florida patients growing their own marijuana plants, smokable marijuana flower and dispensary licensing litigation.
The Department Of Health asked for an additional 3.4 Million for a seed-to-sale tracking system to monitor dispensary production. Plus over 700,000 for additional wages for new employees needed to handle the massive influx of patients looking to be approved for a medical marijuana card.
Natures Way Nursery is set to begin processing medical marijuana products for sale, to approved patients in late 2018.