Global Ganja Report

A north Florida company on July 20 was awarded the state's first license to process and distribute medical marijuana for the limited number of patients who qualify under stringent regulations. Hackney Nursery, doing business as Trulieve, received approval from the state Health Department to process the state's first harvest at a facility in Quincy, with the first sales expected in the coming days at its Tallahassee dispensary..

"[W]e are most excited to get this much anticipated medicine to the patients of Florida," said Trulieve's CEO, Kim Rivers, in a statement, according to Florida's News-Press. "The Department of Health staff and leadership have been consummate professionals throughout this entire process." Rivers said available products would include capsules, tinctures and vaporizers.

Trulieve is the first of six companies Florida has approved to cultivate, process and distribute medical marijuana. Another company, Surterra Therapeutics, was first to win approval to harvest earlier this month.

The imminent first sales come more than two years after a "CBD-specific" medical marijuana law was signed by Gov. Rick Scott. In March of last year, cannabis was added to drugs approved under Florida's "Right to Try Act," law, allowing use of special low-THC strains by patients suffering from cancer and seizures. (WPTV, West Palm Beach, Miami Herald, Orlando Weekly, July 20; Pensacola News-Journal, July 9)

Image from Greenwhich Mean Time