TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A law change this year allowed more Florida growers to try and obtain medical marijuana licenses.
The state faced another challenge for a license Wednesday, as families who say they desperately need medicine for their children are still waiting two years after the original law was passed.
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Holley Moseley and her severely epileptic daughter, RayAnn, thought they’d have medicine by now.
"We were told January 1, 2015, oil would be available to patients," Moseley said.
In 2014, the Moseleys helped pass Florida's first medical marijuana law. It allowed a low-THC cannabis, known as Charlotte's Web, to be grown and distributed in the state. It's been shown to help seizure patients.
"There are kids waiting for treatment that deserve treatment," Moseley said.
After two years -- nothing. The state licensed five growers originally, but things have been tangled in a web of legal issues, causing a change in state law where a grower could challenge for a license if they weren't originally granted one.
The Moseleys traveled Wednesday to Tallahassee to support an administrative challenge from Gainesville-based Loop's Nursery, a business excluded from the original list of five.
"One of the reasons Loop's Nursery was selected as a partner is because they have greenhouse space. They're ready to go. They can start growing immediately," Moseley said.
The state argues the selected growers were qualified.
"You have to prove that you have more than a brand name," DOH attorney, Eduardo Lombard, said.
The Department of Health's Office of Compassionate Use said it is confident the medicine will be available this fall.
"It's entirely likely that product will be available before September," said Christian Bax, of the Office of Compassionate Use.
The lucrative licenses could mean millions of dollars in revenue if the marijuana industry continues to expand in the state.
The administrative challenge could last into next week.