Florida regulators have proposed permanent rules allowing licensed medical marijuana companies to purchase marijuana from competing operators when they experience significant crop losses, establishing a formal process for transactions that are otherwise generally prohibited under the state’s vertically integrated system.
The proposal, published November 6 in the Florida Administrative Register, would replace emergency regulations adopted in December 2025. The Florida Department of Health is accepting public comments through November 27.
Under proposed Rule 64-4.226, a medical marijuana treatment center (MMTC) could receive authorization to purchase marijuana plants, usable flower or marijuana oil from another licensed operator after demonstrating that at least 50% of the plants in a particular harvest were lost or destroyed.
Qualifying circumstances include natural disasters, equipment malfunctions, pest infestations, plant diseases, contamination, flooding and fires. With the exception of natural disasters, the losses must not result from negligence, mismanagement, wrongdoing or deliberate actions by the company or its employees.
The regulations would establish a two-step approval process. Companies would first need to submit documentation of their losses to the Department of Health within 30 calendar days of the harvest failure. If the department certifies the loss, the company would have another 30 days to request authorization for a wholesale purchase.
The department would determine the maximum quantity of marijuana eligible for transfer based on the number of plants lost or destroyed. Companies would not be allowed to purchase more marijuana than necessary to replace those losses, and approved operators would have up to nine months to complete the authorized purchases.
The proposal also requires companies seeking wholesale purchases to have been actively dispensing marijuana to qualified patients or caregivers for at least eight consecutive weeks immediately before submitting their request. Marijuana obtained through an approved transfer would remain subject to state testing, tracking, packaging and labeling requirements.
Florida’s medical marijuana industry operates under a vertically integrated licensing system, which generally requires companies to cultivate, process and sell their own marijuana. Unlike states that allow independent growers to routinely supply multiple dispensary operators, Florida typically prohibits wholesale transactions between competing medical marijuana businesses.
An exception for documented harvest failures already exists under Florida Statute 381.986, and emergency Rule 64ER25-4 took effect December 22, 2025. The latest proposal would establish that framework through the state’s regular administrative rulemaking process rather than create unrestricted wholesale trading.
The proposed regulations would also prohibit companies from advertising marijuana acquired through an approved wholesale transfer as originating from another medical marijuana treatment center. Products would instead be packaged and labeled under the purchasing company’s approved procedures.
The Department of Health is advancing the wholesale-transfer regulations alongside a separate proposal governing marijuana delivery devices, including approval requirements, packaging standards and procedures for recalling unsafe devices.
The wholesale-transfer proposal has not yet been adopted as a permanent rule. A public hearing will be scheduled if requested within 21 days of the November 6 notice.
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