Medical cannabis patients in Florida are facing stricter purchasing limits starting this week after new rules took effect on Monday, Yahoo News reports.
The limits are the result of an emergency action taken by the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana as requested by the legislature, which wants to crack down on what they see as overprescribing by some doctors.
Florida’s 745,000 medical cannabis patients are now limited to 24.5 grams of THC every 70 days (350 milligrams a day) or 2.5 ounces of dried flower every 35 days, the report says.
“Patients are settling in and finding out what they need, and they woke up this morning and their supply has been cut in a third,” Jodie James, president of Florida Cannabis Action Network, said in the report. James is worried some cannabis patients will now either go without or simply turn to the unregulated market.
Josephine Cannella-Krehl, head of clinical community relations for Flowery Dispensary, said patients who use multiple types of cannabis products would be most affected by the law.
“So, a patient who uses inhalation at the maximum levels is now not even going to be eligible to qualify to use a topical.” — Cannella-Krehl to Yahoo
“And we want to make sure that our patients who are trying to do the right thing never have to wonder about whether or not they have too much medicine and they’re over their legal limits or worse that they’re not going to get enough medicine,” she said.
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