Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

It appears Florida may finally be ready to legalize smoking medical cannabis. As things stand, there is a statewide ban on smoking cannabis, but the state’s Senate just voted to get rid of the ban.

“We’ve been working around the clock with our colleagues in the House, with the Governor’s Office to come up with a consensus product and I think we’ve done that,” said State Senator Jeff Brandes.

Now it appears the bill will likely be passed by the state’s House and signed by the governor. The bill allows medical cannabis patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis every 35 days.

“Smoking is a method of ingestion that assists people with chronic debilitating conditions such as ALS,” Christopher Cano, the executive director of NORML’s office in Central Florida, told Cannabis News Box. “Often times the ability to smoke will help dry up the mucus and other fluids that can accumulate in patients’ lungs. Edibles and other methods of ingestion affect different people in different ways, but all of us at NORML agree that it should be determined between the physician and the patient, not the politicians.”

Cano said getting rid of this ban is a good step, but there are still many things about Florida’s medical cannabis program that will need to be fixed.

“We feel that Florida’s restrictive medical marijuana system still hurts patients,” Cano said. “People are still being denied organ transplants, removed from pain management plans, and kicked out of nursing homes all because the politicians continue to come up short. Edibles are still not a reality. And, as long as vertical integration favors only the wealthiest investors, high prices and limited choices will impact patients.”

Cano also said that there is no home growing in Florida and no protections for workers who use medical cannabis. He said there is “current litigation going through the courts in regards to home growing.”

Though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed changing this smoking rule, Cano said he hasn’t done much about cannabis policy besides that. He’s a new governor, though, so we’ll see what he decides to do.

Florida has been noticeably slow when it comes to adopting medical cannabis policies that many other states have adopted, but it appears some things are starting to change.  It’s unclear how far DeSantis will let things go when it comes to reform, but advocates hope he’ll accept the fact that these changes need to happen to help the state’s medical cannabis patients.