Pubdate: Tue, 15 Dec 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 11 COMPANIES CHALLENGE STATE'S MEDICAL-MARIJUANA LICENSES Eleven companies challenged Florida's limited medical-marijuana program Monday by contesting how the state awarded licenses to start the industry. The challenges mean another round of court proceedings and judges' decisions before anyone can be certain that Knox Nursery of Winter Garden and the four other regional licensees have legal authority to grow marijuana and process and sell medicines derived from it. The challenges will be heard by Florida Division of Administrative Hearings judges. The potential timing of those cases was unclear Monday, though each challenge may be handled on a case-by-case basis. The Florida Legislature created the program in 2014, and Gov. Rick Scott signed it into law that July, to provide marijuana-extracted medicines for people suffering from chronic seizures, tremors and other neurological disorders. Already, the program is about a year behind schedule. Initially, the authors of the law expected products to be available last winter or spring. Now the earliest is the spring or summer 2016. "The frustrations continue. And it builds up and up to the point where you just want to scream," said Jean Stock of Crystal Beach, whose adult son Danny has Dravet syndrome, which causes severe seizures. Knox and the others won the licenses Nov. 23 after the Florida Department of Health ran a five-month competitive process, reviewing 27 applications from 24 companies and scoring each application. The state licenses allow the winning nurseries to grow strains of marijuana that have reduced levels of THC, the chemical that gets people high, and elevated levels of CBD, a chemical that has shown promising results in treating seizures, tremors and other neurological disorders. McCrory's Sunny Hill Nursery of Lake Wales, Redland Nursery of Homestead and Dewar Nurseries of Apopka each filed a challenge Monday to the state's license to Knox. The Central Florida region stretches from St. Petersburg to Daytona Beach to Port St. Lucie and includes Orlando. The challengers each offer different reasons for their challenges. McCrory's contended that the Department of Health was inconsistent in how it dealt with applicants, from the application through the scoring. Redland disputed the facts the department used to score applications. Dewar's challenge was not immediately available Monday evening. Representatives of the Florida Department of Health and Knox Nurseries declined to comment. Other challenges were filed Friday and Monday against the state licenses awarded to Chestnut Hill Tree Farm in the Northeast region, Costa Nursery Farms LLC in the Southeast, Alpha Foliage in the Southwest and Hackney Nursery Co. in the Northwest. Monday was the deadline for challenges to be filed. The administrative judges' rulings might not be the last step. Challengers can appeal those decisions to state court. Meanwhile, the Legislature is considering proposals to expand the medical-marijuana program in various ways, including the number of licenses. One of the original law's sponsors, state Rep. Matt Gaetz, R- Fort Walton Beach, has often said lawmakers passed that law expecting to expand the program after it was up and running. Stock expressed frustration that the patients and families are forced to be patient. "Why can't they wait and get in on the action when the law is expanded, and let those with dire needs get what they need as soon as possible?" she asked. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom