Surterra Wellness, one of Florida’s state-licensed medical marijuana sellers, filed Tuesday a petition with the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use asking for laws regulating edible pot candy.
Currently, vendors are not allowed to process and sell edible marijuana products to qualified patients. Surterra’s petition proposes legal requirements for edibles to be at least a quarter-inch by a quarter-inch and “marked, stamped or otherwise imprinted on at least one side.”
These requirements for CBDs size and labeling might be considered by Florida lawmakers, who are currently working on the edible marijuana regulations. The Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use has 30 days to start making the rules or release an explanation for declining the petition, according to Florida law.
A new law approved during a June special session was created to implement a voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical weed for a wide variety of patients. Under this law, officials must design a rule specifically on edibles, which must not be geared toward kids.
Mara Gambineri, a spokeswoman for the health department, said they didn’t know when the new edible regulations would be released. She noted that the issue had been already on the agenda before Surterra filed the petition.
The medical marijuana operator’s five categories of edibles listed in its petition are chocolate, soft confections, hard candies and lozenges, consolidated baked goods such as cookies and brownies, as well as pressed pills and capsules. Surterra said in a statement that many patients considered edible products as the best format to find pain relief, according to a report by The Palm Beach Post.
“Surterra Wellness has and will continue to fight for access to medical cannabis, and this is just a continuation of that cause. The more available options for people, the more likely they will be able to use a cannabis product instead of highly addictive and easily abused opiates,” Surterra President Wesley Reynolds said, as quoted by The Palm Beach Post.
The Marijuana candies must not be appealing to children
Those opposed to marijuana candies fear children will consume the edibles, which is why health officials must determine shapes, forms, and ingredients allowed and banned for edible production.
In California, where marijuana is now legal, more kids are being sent to the emergency room after ingesting gummy marijuana bears by mistake. A proposed law passed Tuesday in the Assembly would ban their production in the state as an attempt to protect children who often get intoxicated because adults don’t secure their medical marijuana candies.
Assemblyman Rudy Salas, who is proposing banning edibles from looking like candy, wants to make sure Proposition 64 was passed for adult use only, as reported by CBS News.
Richard Miller with the dispensary A Therapeutic Alternative said patients who experience high levels of pain could support child-proof-packaging by buying the edibles at his Sacramento dispensary, as CBS reported. He uses simple prescription type bottlers to sell the candies. In Colorado, a ban on pot gummy bears will take effect this month.
Source: Palm Beach Post