Siding with the state in a closely watched case that has kept the cannabis industry in limbo, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 2017 law designed to carry out a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana.

Tampa-based Florigrown LLC is challenging the 2017 law, which created a regulatory structure for the state’s medical marijuana industry. One part of the law requires medical marijuana operators to handle all aspects of the cannabis business, including growing, processing, distributing and selling products. Several prospective medical marijuana operators have intervened in the case, hoping to gain access to what is forecast to be one of the nation’s most lucrative markets. Triangle’s principles hold medical marijuana licenses in Colorado and Arizona, according to court documents. “Ultimately, our goal is to provide affordable, safe medical marijuana to patients.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. As the state Supreme Court ponders a high-stakes challenge to a 2017 medical marijuana law, attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis administration have filed an additional brief disputing that the measure is an unconstitutional special law. The Supreme Court this month heard arguments in the battle about whether the law properly carried out a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. A brief filed late Wednesday by the DeSantis administration disputed the companys arguments about the measure being a special law. The case involves parts of the 2017 law that affect how many companies can get licensed and how they can operate.

But Tampa-based Florigrown argued that legislators instead should concentrate on fixing the law, aimed at carrying out a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. But the Tallahassee judge refused to allow the House to join in the lawsuit. How can the House not be allowed to intervene on the merits of that determination? Thomas asked Katherine Giddings, a lawyer representing Florigrown. But Thomas disagreed, saying the constitutionality of the law will be determined by the appeals court, not the circuit judge. But Judge Scott Makar questioned why the House was bothering to intervene in the case, which Makar said would almost certainly wind up before the Florida Supreme Court.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Floridas law requiring pot operators to grow, process and distribute cannabis and related products created an oligopoly and runs afoul of a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana in the Sunshine State, an appellate court ruled Tuesday. The 1st District Court of Appeals decision sent shockwaves through the states highly restricted but rapidly growing medical marijuana industry, in which licenses are routinely selling for upwards of $50 million. Dodsons ruling also struck down a portion of the state law that set a cap on the number of medical marijuana operators in the state, which Tuesdays appellate decision supported. The state law requires entities to conform to a more restricted definition than is provided in the amendment, the majority said. Ron DeSantis, who forced the Legislature to do away with a ban on smoking medical marijuana, expressed concern about Floridas vertical integration system shortly after he took office in January.