A Florida House of Representatives legislative committee this week approved a bill that would eliminate state medical cannabis registration fees for military veterans. The measure, House Bill 555 from Republican state Rep. Alex Andrade, was unanimously advanced by the House Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday by a vote of 21-0.
If passed, the legislation would waive the standard $75 medical cannabis registration fee for military veterans. The bill specifies that the state “may not charge a fee for the issuance, replacement, or renewal of an identification card for a qualified patient who is a veteran.”
House Bill 555 would also change how often all medical cannabis patients must renew their state registration. Under the measure, registered patients would be required to renew their status as medical cannabis patients every two years. Currently, patients are required to renew their medical cannabis registration every year.
“It certainly does help in the medical marijuana space, and it certainly helps veterans,” Florida Republican state Rep. Michelle Salzman said at a legislative hearing earlier this month.
“The way the system is set up currently, you have to go to the doctor every so many days and you have to get renewed every so many days, and those do not coincide,” Salzman told Florida Politics. “So you could go to the doctor and get all of your stuff renewed and then not know that you were supposed to renew your medical marijuana license two months prior. You go straight from the doctor to the dispensary and you can’t get a prescription and now you have to wait. They’ve done a good job of streamlining that process, but you still have to wait, and it’s another $75 fee, which you already had to pay close to $200 to see the doctor.”
Cannabis Advocates Speak in Favor of Bill
Prior to Tuesday’s vote on the bill, lawmakers held a hearing to consider the legislation. Several supporters spoke in favor of House Bill 555, while no testimony was given opposing the bill.
Melissa Villar, executive director of the Tallahassee chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), told lawmakers on the committee that when the state’s medical cannabis program launched in 2017, “it was the most expensive in the country for patients and for business entrance.” Villar asked lawmakers to expand the bill by adding provisions that would discount or eliminate medical cannabis registration fees for patients who are disabled or have low incomes.
Bill Amended from Earlier Version
An earlier version of Andrade’s bill would have made more substantial changes to Florida’s medical cannabis program. As originally introduced, House Bill 555 would have allowed registered patients to grow cannabis at home. The original version also would have established a medical cannabis reciprocity program that would allow patients from other states that have legalized medical cannabis to shop at licensed dispensaries while visiting Florida.
The bill was amended, however, at a meeting of the House Health Professions and Programs Subcommittee earlier this month. Instead of the bill introduced by Andrade, the subcommittee replaced the legislation with a two-page substitute measure that makes only modest changes to Florida’s medical cannabis program.
If House Bill 555 is passed by the legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, it would go into effect on July 1.
Veterans and Medical Cannabis
Research shows that military veterans consume cannabis at rates higher than the general population, and many veterans report using cannabis medicinally, NORML wrote in a brief about the subject. In a study released last month, researchers reported that 40% of vets with chronic pain use medical cannabis to treat their symptoms.
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