Everything You Need to Know About Legal Weed in Florida
Getting marijuana in Florida has come a long way since it was the exclusive domain of fine gentlemen strolling Ocean Drive mumbling “weedcoke” to unwitting tourists. Now, there are literally ads for weed on top of taxi cabs. Since Florida voters passed Amendment 2, legalizing medicinal marijuana in 2016, ads for marijuana doctors are popping up in local weeklies, on cabs, and even on billboards. But don’t let them fool you: We are a long way from becoming Colorado, and like pretty much everything in Florida there are still befuddling questions about how the whole thing works.
For instance: Who are these doctors on the taxis, and how can I get them to write me a prescription? Where can I buy it? Do they have Taco Bells nearby? And, most importantly — especially right now — do they deliver?
To help iron it out, we talked to a few experts with intimate knowledge of the subject. Robert Chavez, an executive healthcare consultant formerly with the University of Miami Health System; Steve Berke, CEO of Bang Holdings, a publicly traded cannabis ad-tech company; seniors marijuana activist Robert Platshorn; and attorney Daniel Russell who has represented, among others, the Florida Lottery and Gulfstream Park. They gave us the skinny on who qualifies for medicinal marijuana, who can sell it, and what else to expect from medical marijuana in Florida in 2020.
