Florida’s Senate Appropriations Committee on Health and Human Services has voted 16 to 0 to pass legislation that would allow physicians to renew patients medical marijuana cards via telehealth.
The passage of Senate Bill 344 through the Senate Appropriations Committee comes roughly three weeks after a companion bill (House Bill 387) was passed by the House Health and Human Services Committee. The vote in the Health and Human Services Committee was also unanimous, 20 to 0.
Under the two bills a licensed physician would be allowed to use telehealth options such as Zoom when renewing a patient’s medical marijuana authorization card during annual renewals. Physicians would still be required to meet a patient in-person to authorize their medical marijuana use for the first time.
State Representative Spencer Roach, who first introduced the proposal, points out that during an eight-month period of the pandemic telehealth was allowed for medical marijuana renewals. The state “really didn’t see any problems”, says Roach, who notes that House Bill 387 “would treat the use of medical marijuana just like other medicines in the state of Florida.”
Along with Representative Roach, the bill is cosponsored by a bipartisan group of eight additional lawmakers.
Florida first legalized medical marijuana through the passage of Amendment 2 in 2016. Since then nearly 800,000 people have become authorized medical marijuana patients, based on state data.
Last month Florida State Senator Victor Torre filed Senate Bill 1576 to legalize recreational marijuana for everyone 21 and older. The bill’s filing comes amidst a statewide initiative campaign to put marijuana legalization to a vote of the people, with the group Smart & Safe Florida having already submitted over 630,000 valid signatures of the 891,589 required to put the issue before voters next year.
If House Bill 387 and Senate Bill 344 are passed into law they will take effect on July 1st.
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