Have they opened Pandora's box? Some Deerfield Beach city leaders worry that's what they might've done by allowing marijuana dispensaries in the city. They're now trying to stop medical dispensaries from clustering citywide by keeping them out of commercial areas that also have homes, as well as setting rules to stop them from opening next to one another. Mayor Bill Ganz said he doesn't want the city to become known as the place to buy pot, even if it's just the medical kind that doesn't get you high. [continues 705 words]
Kratom is an herb from Southeast Asia related to the coffee family. For centuries, people have used the kratom plant as a traditional medicine for energy, alertness and pain relief. It's typically either chewed or dried, ground and ingested in capsule, smoked or served as tea. The key psychoactive compounds that produce a "kratom high" are mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine. A low kratom dosage produces stimulant effects making people more talkative, alert and energetic, according to a DEA fact sheet. At high doses, kratom users can experience the drug's sedative effects, the report shows. People can buy kratom online and at head shops, vape shops and more recently at kava bars that serve herbal drinks. [end]
A DeLand police officer was fired, another suspended without pay and a third reprimanded this month after they lost methamphetamine collected as evidence at a home over the summer, Internal Affairs documents show. Officers Michael Mirino, John Rutherford and Thomas Gillan responded to a home on July 14 to stand by as members of Probation and Parole searched the Lazy River Lane home of Cameron Rando, 19, who was on probation for grand theft and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling according to reports released this week. [continues 383 words]
Sarasota-based medical marijuana company AltMed Florida is poised to begin growing its first crop of marijuana at a facility in Apollo Beach. The Florida Department of Health authorized Plants of Ruskin -- the nursery that is partnering with AltMed -- to begin operating the cultivation facility. "We have worked diligently to build what we believe will be the most advanced indoor cultivation facility in Florida, and one of the finest in the country," AltMed CEO John Tipton said in a press release Monday. [continues 270 words]
Palm Beach County's first medical marijuana dispensary is now open for business. At noon Tuesday, Knox Medical opened the center at 1 South Dixie Highway in Lake Worth, across the street from Lake Worth City Hall. The dispensary occupies a former bank building in downtown Lake Worth, and the interior resembles a dentist or doctor's office. Patients check in at the foyer and then can proceed to a room with glass display cases showcasing Knox Medical's products. Knox Medical CEO Jose Javier Hidalgo said the new dispensary will improve access to medical cannabis for everyone in South Florida. [continues 528 words]
TALLAHASSEE -- Seemingly learning from past mistakes, state health officials have issued an emergency rule outlining the application process for new medical-marijuana vendors seeking to receive licenses in two weeks. The new rule, published Wednesday and going into effect immediately, outsources the evaluation of the applications to "subject matter experts," requires "blind testing" of the applications, and includes a detailed application form --- all departures from the Department of Health's previous medical-marijuana regulations that spawned a series of legal and administrative challenges. [continues 974 words]
Opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Florida naturally comes with a lot of red tape. Marijuana is still considered an illegal substance at the federal level, despite the 29 states that have legalized it for recreational or medicinal use in recent years. That makes it nearly impossible for banks to fund marijuana distributing companies, which in turn makes it hard for those companies to sign a lease for a store or warehouse or even get insurance. But one Orlando area community bank is willing to take on the risk. [continues 695 words]
On medical marijuana, the public is way ahead of officialdom. Statewide, 71 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of the medical marijuana amendment last November. In Flagler County, the margin was the same. In Volusia County, 73 percent voted to approve. Overwhelming support. Particularly in a state like Florida which is known sharp political divisions on most issues. Even so, the Legislature was so reluctant to pass legislation putting the amendment into effect that nothing was approved during the regular spring session. [continues 541 words]
The girls knew the rules, and especially the consequences. Their father would never raise a hand to them, but he was an aficionado of understated punishments. Grab a pen and paper, he would tell his two daughters, and come sit at the kitchen table. Write down what you did wrong, and how you plan on correcting it. Sign it, date it and make sure you spelled everything correctly. Frank Vazquez fretted enough about Cylea and Leliana that he wouldn't let them spend the night with friends because of all of the things that might go on in other homes. And he was like a doorman at a fancy high-rise when it came to who got past the threshold to visit his girls. [continues 974 words]
Authorities found an exhaustive list of weapons, drug paraphernalia and Nazi propaganda when they raided a trailer Tuesday morning in a rural pocket of west central Florida, according to the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Five felons, two of whom authorities described as documented gang members, were arrested after deputies and a SWAT team served a search warrant on the suburban New Port Richey mobile home, WFLA-Channel 8 reported. Inside the trailer, which is partially obscured by thick vegetation along a wooded street, were four firearms, ammunition, "hundreds of pages" of miscellaneous bank account and personal identification information, credit cards, veterans' ID cards, insurance cards, vehicle titles, "hundreds of pages of American Nazi Family propaganda (rules, hierarchy, oaths, etc)," opiates, meth, and drug paraphernalia including needles and scales, deputies said. [continues 60 words]
What's legal, what's not, and what we're waiting on in this time between the passage of a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana and a July deadline for the Department of Health to institute rules and regulations. What's legal, what's not, and what we're waiting on in this time between the passage of a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana and a July deadline for the Department of Health to institute rules and regulations. During the past six months, the number of doctors in Florida who can recommend marijuana to patients has more than doubled from 374 to 819 as of June 2, according to state records. In Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, the number also more than doubled from 130 to 303. [continues 577 words]
ORANGE PARK - Town Council soon will take up whether to lift Orange Park's moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries, and if so, where such establishments may open up shop within the town limits. The Orange Park Planning and Zoning Board voting 3-1 with one member absent July 13 recommended the council allow such dispensaries provided they comply with certain conditions. The board's recommendation is non-binding. Under Florida law, medical marijuana dispensaries are treated as pharmacies for zoning purposes. That means wherever a regular pharmacy is allowed to operate, so is a medical marijuana dispensary. [continues 398 words]
Oviedo City Council members this week agreed to let the city's moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries expire Aug. 5, making it likely that Oviedo will become the first Seminole County municipality to allow such businesses. Council members also directed city staffers Monday to draft an ordinance that will treat medical marijuana dispensaries under the same zoning regulations as pharmacies. Pharmacies in Oviedo are allowed to operate only in certain office and commercial zoning districts, which are mostly located along major thoroughfares. Council members are expected to vote on a new ordinance in the coming weeks to allow pharmacies and medical marijuana dispensaries to operate only in certain commercial zoning districts, but not in zoning districts for offices. [continues 208 words]
The blond toddler pounced from the floor without warning and reached for a toy deep within Savannah Woods' entertainment center. She remained on the plush, beige carpet, her eyes following the toddler through the room. In attempt to rein in the child's energy, Woods called him back to her side and asked him to name a smiling woman in the picture she held. "Momma," the two-year-old said. The photograph captured Woods and her wife, Carly. [continues 2110 words]
'MOLLY' Scientists, public health experts and volunteers working with them have started to show up at music festivals, concerts, raves and other public gatherings where illicit drugs are frequently used. Equipped with special chemical testing kits, they help attendees test pills and powder for purity in real time so people can make better informed decisions about whether to take them. The practice - more common in Europe than in the United States - is controversial, and the debate has been similar to the early days of needle-exchange programs in the 1980s. Proponents argue harm reduction. They say people are more likely to reject taking drugs to get high if the substances do not contain what they think they do, which reduces the risk of overdose and other harmful effects. Critics say such programs implicitly encourage the use of illegal drugs. [continues 580 words]
The medical marijuana industry officially has its guidelines with the passage of a bill out of the Florida Legislature on the last day of a three-day special session. The votes were 29-6 in the Senate and 103-9 in the House. The few no votes were mostly Democrats who wanted fewer restrictions in the bill, but also a few Republicans who remain against the idea of medical marijuana on principle. Gov. Rick Scott said he "absolutely" will sign the bill. That means big changes for patients, caregivers, doctors and growers, compared with the far more limited medical marijuana law passed by the Legislature in 2014, which resulted in seven grower/dispensers in the state. [continues 906 words]
TALLAHASSEE -- Arguing that Florida legislators violated voters' intent when they prohibited smoking for the medical use of marijuana, the author of the state's medical marijuana amendment sued the state on Thursday to throw out the implementing law. John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer who spearheaded and financed the successful campaign to make medical access to cannabis a constitutional right, filed the lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court Thursday morning, asking the court to declare the law implementing the 2016 constitutional amendment unenforceable. [continues 1059 words]
TEMPLE TERRACE -- Dropping a giant joint in favor of the "USS Maryjane" seemed to smooth the waters for a pro-marijuana entry in this year's Temple Terrace Fourth of July Parade. The new float designed by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws featured the flag-festooned ship crewed by some military veterans and painted with the slogan, "Hemp for Victory." The theme plays off a World War II film from the Department of Agriculture that praised the nation's hemp farmers for their work in creating strong ropes from the stalks of marijuana plants for the armed forces. [continues 227 words]
It was a miscarriage of dust-ice. A handyman spent three months behind bars after cops believed they'd found cocaine sprinkled around his car -- until test results later proved it was clean, according to reports. Karlos Cash, 57, says the white powder was actually drywall -- just as he'd been telling them all along. "I know for a fact (that) it's drywall because I'm a handyman," he told WFTV Orlando. "I said that continuously during the arrest stop." [continues 164 words]
Alfred LubranoWest Chester addiction psychologist Drew Alikakos dials a number for a local addiction treatment center that he suspects has been illicitly re-routed to a Florida facility. His own phone number was "hijacked" in such a manner. Alfred Lubrano works for the enterprise team. Previously, he wrote about poverty, and before that, he was a feature writer and columnist. Last September, West Chester addiction psychologist Drew Alikakos made a jarring discovery: His patients were disappearing. Gallery: Philly and Conrail to clean up 'heroin hellscape' [continues 1418 words]
Inside Florida
