Pubdate: Tue, 24 Nov 2015
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2015 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Scott Powers

5 GROWERS GET STATE'S 1ST POT LICENSES

The Florida Department of Health has awarded licenses to Knox Nursery 
in Central Florida and four other growers in other regions of the 
state to become the first in Florida to legally grow marijuana and 
manufacture medicines from it.

Knox, a Winter Garden greenhouse operator, was selected from among 
eight companies vying to get the state's exclusive license for the 
18-county region that forms a broad swath from St. Petersburg to 
Daytona Beach and includes Orlando.

The Florida Department of Health issued the northwest-region license 
to Hackney Nursery Co.; the northeast to Chestnut Hill Tree Farm; the 
southwest to Alpha Foliage; and the southeast to Costa Nursery Farms.

The decisions come after a drawn-out process for the state to set up 
a limited medical-marijuana program. The course began when the 
Legislature approved the law in 2014 but has been slowed and hampered 
by legal challenges and unexpected complexities. The licenses were 
announced almost a year later than lawmakers had expected.

"At last, families seeking the relief only this drug can offer are a 
step closer to help. It's a shame that more than 15 months after the 
Legislature took this important step, the bureaucracy is catching 
up," said one of the sponsors, state Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation.

The licensees still must acquire and grow the plants, and process, 
bottle and sell the drugs. The state is giving them 75 days to start 
and an additional 210 days to cultivate.

In a written statement, Knox Nursery owner Bruce Knox said, "We are 
humbled by the understanding that our mission is to bring comfort and 
relief to patients suffering from painful and debilitating illnesses."

His statement did not say how quickly his company might have products 
for sale, but said, "We look forward to working with state regulators 
to bring this important product to the families in the State of 
Florida as soon as possible."

Knox and the others can only grow plants that are very low in the 
chemical THC, which gets people high, and rich in the chemical CBD, 
which has shown some effectiveness in treating a variety of 
neurological disorders.

The medicines will be available from retail outlets owned and 
operated by the growers for patients who have intractable forms of 
epilepsy or other neurological disorders that cause seizures or 
tremors. A doctor certified in the state's program must approve.

And yet, after all the delays, patients and their families hold on to 
only cautious optimism, said Seth Hyman of Weston, whose daughter 
Rebecca, 10, suffers from a severe seizure disorder. After all, he 
said, the medicine best known by the brand name "Charlotte's Web" has 
not worked for everyone.

"I think every patient like my daughter deserves the right and the 
chance to try it," Hyman said. "But I think patients and caregivers 
and parents should be cautiously optimistic."

Knox Nursery submitted plans for an Orlando pharmacy near Florida 
Hospital's downtown campus, plus similar locations in Winter Garden and Tampa.

Knox's victory means defeat for seven other growers who were seeking 
the Central Florida license: DeLeon's Bromeliads Inc., Dewar 
Nurseries Inc., McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery, Razbuton Inc., Redland 
Nursery Inc., Spring Oaks Greenhouse Inc. and Treadwell Nursery.

The state selected the winners by having three judges score each 
application. Every application ran hundreds of pages.

The score cards, and the rules behind the application process, were 
developed last winter by a 12-member committee appointed by the 
state. It included some growers, including at least four who 
represent companies that wound up winning licenses: Knox, Hackney, 
Chestnut Hill and Costa. It is unclear whether Alpha also had a 
representative on that board; the publicly released copy of Alpha's 
application redacted identifications of all the company's principals 
and agents.

Knox Nursery, founded in 1962 by Jim and Nada Knox, has been 
familyowned ever since and is fully owned by their grandson Bruce 
Knox. That makes the nursery true to the spirit of the law the 
Florida Legislature approved in spring 2014, when it deliberately 
tried to steer the marijuana business to longtime Floridaowned companies.

At least some of the other applicants added layers of investors, 
partnerships and holding companies so that, though they remained 
legally under the original ownership, they appeared to have complex 
structures with significant out-of-state interests.

Knox's application declared that the company "will remain 100 percent 
in Bruce's control."

Knox operates one of the largest nurseries in the state, claiming 125 
million plants a year, mostly plugs, of 5,000 different varieties of 
plants. The company also claims its plants have long been grown with 
environmentally conscious best-management practices, and that the 
company has 700,000 square feet of high-tech greenhouses.

The company concedes it has no experience growing cannabis. But it 
hired two consultants who do. Matthew Harrison has run cannabis 
operations in Colorado, California and Illinois. Jill Lamoureux has 
operated cannabis farms and dispensaries in Colorado and has worked 
as a cannabis lobbyist in Colorado and Washington state. She also had 
a seat on the Florida rule-writing committee last winter.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom