How Will the State of Florida Be Required to Process Medical Marijuana Applications – Chapter 893 Statute If Florida Legalizes Medical Marijuana? – Part 5

How will the State of Florida be required to process Medical Marijuana Applications?

This series continues to explore how Marijuana Laws in the Florida Statutes might be changed should the voters, the courts, and/or the legislature be so inclined. Here is an outline of how the State of Florida could be required to process Medical Marijuana Applications under the proposed language of the law:

(a) Within 30 days of receipt of an application for an identification card, a county health department or the county’s designee shall do all of the following:

(1) For purposes of processing the application, verify that the information contained in the application is accurate. If the person is less than 18 years of age, the county health department or its designee shall also contact the parent with legal authority to make medical decisions, legal guardian, or other person or entity with legal authority to make medical decisions, to verify the information.

(2) Verify with the Florida Department of Health that the attending physician has a license in good standing to practice medicine or osteopathy in the state.

(3) Contact the attending physician by facsimile, telephone, or mail to confirm that the medical records submitted by the patient are a true and correct copy of those contained in the physician’s office records. When contacted by a county health department or the county’s designee, the attending physician shall confirm or deny that the contents of the medical records are accurate.

(4) Take a photograph or otherwise obtain an electronically transmissible image of the applicant and of the designated primary caregiver, if any.

(5) Approve or deny the application. If an applicant who meets the requirements of Chapter 893 can establish that an identification card is needed on an emergency basis, the county or its designee shall issue a temporary identification card that shall be valid for 30 days from the date of issuance. The county, or its designee, may extend the temporary identification card for no more than 30 days at a time, so long as the applicant continues to meet the requirements of this paragraph.

(b) If the county health department or the county’s designee approves the application, it shall, within 24 hours, or by the end of the next working day of approving the application, electronically transmit the following information to the department:

(1) A unique user identification number of the applicant.
(2) The date of expiration of the identification card.
(3) The name and telephone number of the county health department or the county’s designee that has approved the application.

(c) The county health department or the county’s designee shall issue an identification card to the applicant and to his or her designated primary caregiver, if any, within five working days of approving the application.

(d) In any case involving an incomplete application, the applicant shall assume responsibility for rectifying the deficiency. The county shall have 14 days from the receipt of information from the applicant pursuant to this subdivision to approve or deny the application.

Next Up – What Information will a Florida Medical Marijuana Card Contain?

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