TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – An appeals court refused Tuesday to reconsider its decision rejecting arguments that prominent Tampa strip-club owner Joe Redner should be able to grow his own medical marijuana to help fight lung cancer.
The 1st District Court of Appeal issued a one-page order turning down Redner’s request for a rehearing or for the full appeals court to take up the case.
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The order also rejected sending the case to the Florida Supreme Court as a “question of great public importance.”
A three-judge panel of the appeals court in April overturned a ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers, who last year gave Redner the go-ahead to grow marijuana for juicing purposes.
Redner’s doctor ordered a juicing treatment that uses live marijuana plants to prevent a relapse of stage 4 lung cancer, according to court documents.
Emulsification, or juicing, of the “biomass of the marijuana plant” was determined to be “the most effective way” for Redner “to get the benefit of medical marijuana,” Gievers decided.
The lawsuit was based on a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. But three-judge panel of the appeals court rejected Redner’s interpretation of the constitutional amendment.
“The term ‘use’ is not defined by the amendment. However, it is clear, when one examines the entire amendment, that ‘use’ does not mean ‘grow’ or ‘process,’ as Mr. Redner argues,” the April ruling said.