TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Veterans, parents and medical cannabis operators are pushing back against a House plan that would limit how high Floridians can get when they smoke medical marijuana, saying proposed THC levels would drive patients to the black market.
The House plan would cap THC levels in smokable medical marijuana at 10 percent, a level the sponsor of the legislation maintains is based on science, but which patients and advocates contend is too low. Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the intoxicating ingredient in marijuana that produces a euphoric effect.
The House Health & Human Services Committee on Wednesday approved the measure (PCB HHS 19-02), with Chairman Ray Rodrigues saying the cap is grounded in studies that found high levels of the euphoria-inducing cannabinoid were not effective in treating pain. Other studies linked smoking high-THC marijuana with psychosis, Rodrigues said.
“We believe that there’s science that shows greater than 10 percent THC has been linked to harmful effects, so that’s why we’ve chosen the 10 percent limit. There’s also science out there that has shown that less than 10 percent is effective for medical purposes, and so we have used that as the delineation,” Rodrigues, R-Estero, said.
The committee vote came about three weeks after lawmakers --- many of them, like Rodrigues, reluctantly --- succumbed to pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis and overwhelmingly voted to repeal the state’s ban on smokable medical marijuana.
The bill also includes a provision that would allow veterans to get free medical-marijuana patient identification cards, which currently cost patients and caregivers $75 each year.
Waiving the fee for vets, however, drew the wrath of some patients who accused Rodrigues of using veterans as “scapegoats” for the controversial THC levels included in the bill.
“This is going to harm us,” Tanya Bailey, a veteran with the group “Vets for Buds,” told the panel.
“We need our medicine. We don’t know what to do,” Bailey said. “I have to oppose any amendment that’s going to ride on our backs to lower to 10 percent.”