Weed worries	 

Takeaways from Tallahassee, Florida Politics, 10/19/2019


The [Florida] House Health Policy Committee is concerned about medical marijuana.

“We’ve given Ms. Kemp a number of things to take back to the Office of Medical Marijuana Use,” quipped Chairwoman Rep. Colleen Burton.

Patient access is one concern. In some places, there are no prescribing doctors. In others, especially urban areas, doctors provide a preponderance of recommendations.

The committee’s Republican members were frustrated by doctors operating in “secondary locations.” While a doctor’s primary location may be in one county, tracking physician recommendations is difficult when that doctor moves from market to market for patient consultations.

Democrats, such as canna-proponent state Rep. Carlos G. Smith, have their concerns, such as doctors padding bills. Patients are directly charged for “cannabis consultations,” Smith said, even if their insurance covers them otherwise.

“There’s no scheme in place for regulating prices,” said Claudia Kemp, Executive Director of the Board of Medicine. Another hole in the current scheme is a lack of tracking of medical efficacy for patients or a “consumer watchdog.”