• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2022
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Florida Picks 5 Nurseries to Grow and Distribute Medical Marijuana for Select Patients

November 25, 2015 | FlaglerLive | 6 Comments

medical marijuana
But it won;t go nearly that far yet. (KayVee)

Nearly a year behind schedule, Florida health officials on Monday selected five “dispensing organizations” to grow, process and distribute non-euphoric medical marijuana for a select group of sick patients.

But many in the industry believe that the biggest challenge in the drawn-out process is yet to come.


The five winners, who scored the highest of 28 applications, are Hackney Nursery in the Northwest region of the state; Chestnut Hill Tree Farm in the Northeast; Knox Nursery in the Central region; Alpha Foliage in the Southwest region; and Costa Nursery Farms in the Southeast region.

Parents of children with severe epilepsy pushed for a 2014 law to legalize the purportedly non-euphoric marijuana — low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD — and contended that it can end or dramatically reduce life-threatening seizures.

Sen. Rob Bradley, who was instrumental in passing the law, said he congratulated state Surgeon General John Armstrong early Monday morning. Applications for the licenses were due on July 8, and Bradley and other lawmakers had become frustrated that it was taking the Department of Health so long to pick the five dispensing organizations.

“I think now the attention should be focused on the industry to make sure that they cause no further delays and we move forward getting this product to these suffering families as quickly as possible,” Bradley, R-Fleming Island, said. “The department did its job. And now it’s time for the industry to step up. No further delays. Let’s move forward.”

But legal challenges over the awarding of the licenses are almost a given.

“It has always been anticipated that there will be challenges, and I’ve seen nothing in this process to persuade me that we will not see some of the winners challenged,” said Louis Rotundo, a lobbyist who represents the Florida Medical Cannabis Association and who also has a small ownership interest in at least one of the losing applicants.

Losers have 21 days to file challenges, but Patricia Nelson, a former director of the Department of Health’s Office of Compassionate Use who served on the three-member panel that graded the applications, said earlier this year that the challenges to the licenses will not hold up the process.

The winners of the licenses have 75 days to request “cultivation authorization” and, once that authorization has been granted, must begin dispensing the low-THC products within 210 days, meaning that the low-THC products could be on the shelves by next summer. The winners also have 10 business days to post $5 million performance bonds.

Meanwhile, losing applicants are trying to make sense of more than 600 pages of scorecards used to grade the applications by the panel comprised of Nelson; her successor, Christian Bax; and accountant Ellyn Hutson.

Click On:


  • Medical Pot Deal Collapses Over Dispensaries, Leaving Framework in Strict Regulators’ Hands
  • House Approves Medical Pot Measure That Would Allow Unlimited Number of Retailers
  • Three Ways Forward on Enacting Florida Voters’ Medical Marijuana Mandate
  • Local Governments Nursing Headaches Over Legalized Pot as Health Department Holds Hearing Across Florida
  • Attention Florida Patients: You May Start Buying Your Pot Treatment in 90 Days
  • Pot Amendment Goes Into Effect Amid Mass Confusion and “Dangerous Legal Area”
  • Palm Coast Council Talks As If It Wants To Be Pioneer in Medical Pot, But Post-Moratorium
  • Flagler County Approves 6-Month Moratorium on Medical Pot Dispensaries or Facilities
  • Amendment 2: Medical Marijuana Through the Eyes and Suffering of Those Who Need It Most
  • Pot Amendment’s Passage Creates a Green Rush in Nation’s 2nd Largest Marijuana Market
  • Medical Marijuana Cruises to Reality in Florida With Healthy 71% Majority
  • The Reek of Hypocrisy Behind Federal Marijuana Laws
  • Cashing In on Pot: How Business Is Getting High on Marijuana’s Potential
  • Palm Coast Council Looks to Regulate Potential Medical Pot, But in a Cloud of Misinformation
  • Pam Bondi’s Pot Problem
  • Marijuana Use Barely Up, Synthetic Drug Use Sharply Down, Along With Other Narcotics
  • Medical Marijuana Archives
  • People United for Medical Marijuana
  • Drug Policy Alliance Website

“I’ve got a number of calls from people trying to figure out how they got scored,” said Jeff Sharkey, a lobbyist who formed the Medical Marijuana Business Association of Florida and is affiliated with two nurseries that didn’t make the cut. “From that, people will make some decisions. Going back to growing tomatoes is option one. Option two is, some people have raised concerns about the perception of the nursery rulemaking committee and trying to figure out their scores and whether or not there are grounds for a protest. That’s kind of a normal review process for folks who’ve lost.”

Implementation of the law has been delayed due to legal challenges and an administrative law judge, who last year rejected the Department of Health’s first stab at a rule that would have used a lottery system to choose the license winners.

The department then held a rare “negotiated rulemaking workshop” — comprised of industry insiders, including Florida nurseries and marijuana experts from other states — to craft the regulations for the state’s marijuana industry.

Under the law passed last year and approved by Gov. Rick Scott, only nurseries that have been in business in Florida for at least 30 years and grow a minimum of 400,000 plants at the time they applied for a license were eligible to become one of the five dispensing organizations.

The nurseries teamed up with a variety of consultants, including out-of-state marijuana growers, in the hopes of edging out the competition.

Four of the five winners of the licenses — Chestnut Hill, Costa, Hackney and Knox — were represented on the rulemaking committee.

One of the most high-profile losers among the 28 applications was Loop’s Nursery, a Jacksonville grower that teamed up with the Stanley Brothers, a Colorado family that developed the “Charlotte’s Web” strain of cannabis whose name has become almost synonymous with low-THC, high-CBD medical marijuana.

Peyton Moseley, the husband of committee member Holley Moseley, is also part of Loop’s team. Holley Moseley heads up the “Realm of Caring Florida” non-profit organization also linked with the nursery. The Moseleys lobbied fiercely for the low-THC law on behalf of their daughter, RayAnn, last year.

Nearly all of the winners are represented by some of Tallahassee’s most influential lobbyists. Costa is represented by the Southern Strategy Group, while lobbyist Brian Ballard represents Hackney and Jorge Chamizo is the registered lobbyist for Knox Nurseries.

Alpha Foliage, owned by John and Carolyn DeMott, applied in two separate regions. The nursery has partnered with Surterra Florida, a limited liability corporation whose officers include two Atlanta investors also seeking to establish a footprint in Georgia’s nascent medical-marijuana industry. Alex Havenick, whose mother Barbara owns greyhound tracks in Naples and Miami, is also one of the officers of the Florida group. The nursery is also affiliated with Surterra Holdings, represented by lobbyists Ron Book and Billy Rubin.

Many of the applicants had applied for the low-THC licenses in the hope of expanding their businesses in the event that a constitutional amendment legalizing full-strength medical marijuana passed. That amendment narrowly failed last year, but a nearly identical measure is almost certain to go before voters next November.

–Dara Kam, News Service of Florida

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!  
All donors' identities are kept confidential and anonymous.
   

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. joe says

    November 25, 2015 at 1:28 pm

    Patients need to be able to produce their own medicine and not be forced to buy it from state selected nursery, Marijuana is for the people by the people. Free the plant and free the people.

    Reply
  2. mikeblevins says

    November 26, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    I agree, picking select farms to grow legalized marijuana sounds suspiciously like the same deal they had in Ohio.

    Reply
  3. mikeblevins says

    November 26, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    All tin-foil hats aside, how were these nurseries selected? “The five winners, who scored the highest of 28 applications, are Hackney Nursery in the Northwest region of the state; Chestnut Hill Tree Farm in the Northeast; Knox Nursery in the Central region; Alpha Foliage in the Southwest region; and Costa Nursery Farms in the Southeast region.” How do you score on a weed growing application?

    Reply
  4. Donald says

    November 26, 2015 at 4:15 pm

    Forced buying from State nurseries is like Forced Syrian refugees being DUMPED on us !!!! Neither is good for America !!!!

    Reply
  5. Mary says

    November 27, 2015 at 10:18 am

    Yes I agree with you Joe. I think you will see this happening soon,thank goodness

    Reply
  6. yankee says

    November 28, 2015 at 8:03 pm

    everyone thinks they are gods gift to growing. truth is none of you have the ability or the facility to put out the amount of CBD heavy strains that are needed.

    once we go for legal rec weed, by all means, home grows as some people do some strains better, but for medical the goal is to get it out there in bulk and fast.

    Reply
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Advertisers

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Concerned Citizen on Flagler Sheriff’s Sgt. Breckwoldt, In Charge of Narcotics Unit, at Center of Abuse of Power Allegation
  • Dennis C Rathsam on Flagler’s Property Values Still Rose Robustly, Continuing Potential Windfall For Local Governments
  • The dude on I’m Almost 67, I Worked 22 Years With Walmart, Yet Can’t Afford to Retire
  • Travis on Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody Wants Supreme Court to Kill Recreational Pot Initiative
  • Jimbo99 on 251-Unit Wilton Apartment Project Breaks Ground in Town Center, Employing 300 During Construction
  • sean on 251-Unit Wilton Apartment Project Breaks Ground in Town Center, Employing 300 During Construction
  • YankeeExPat on Voters Approved an Amendment For Racial Equity in Districts. DeSantis Wants It Ignored.
  • One term and done on As Investigation of Principal Paul Peacock Nears Conclusion, His Absence from Reappointment List Draws Speculation
  • Dennis C Rathsam on Palm Coast’s Belk Converted Into One of 16 Outlet Stores as Company Struggles
  • Joshua Rosenbloom on Ron DeSantis Is in a War With Disney He Cannot Win
  • Jay Tomm on Flagler’s Property Values Still Rose Robustly, Continuing Potential Windfall For Local Governments
  • pete on Flagler Replaces Confusing Letter-Based Evacuation Zones With Neighborhood Names as Hurricane Season Begins
  • Day One. on Flagler Sheriff’s Sgt. Breckwoldt, In Charge of Narcotics Unit, at Center of Abuse of Power Allegation
  • Day One. on Flagler Sheriff’s Sgt. Breckwoldt, In Charge of Narcotics Unit, at Center of Abuse of Power Allegation
  • anon on Upside of Unrequited Survives Book Ban at FPC, But 57% of Challenged Titles Were Removed From Flagler Schools This Year
  • Mark Huston on 240-Unit Apartment Complex Planned Next to BJ’s Wholesale Club on State Road 100 in Palm Coast

Log in