Florida legislation that would allow physicians to renew patients medical marijuana cards via telehealth was given approval today by the state’s Senate, and it has already passed the full House of Representatives
House Bill 387 was passed today through its second reading in the Senate, and placed on tomorrow’s calendar to receive a third and final reading. Given it was amended on the Senate floor once it’s passed through its third reading HB 387 will need to receive one final House vote before it can be sent to Governor Ron DeSantis for consideration.
If HB 387 is passed into law licensed physician would be allowed to use telehealth options such as Zoom when renewing a patient’s medical marijuana authorization card during annual renewals. The law does not, however, allow physicians to use telehealth when first authorizing a patient to use medical marijuana.
When he introduced the measure, the bill’s sponsor State Representative Spencer Roach pointed 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 Representative 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. If House Bill 387 is passed into law it will take effect on July 1st.
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.
An initiative campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida has submitted over 840,000 valid signatures of the 891,000 required to put the proposal to a November, 2024 vote of the people.
