With over 750,000 registered patients in the State of Florida, the Office of Medical Marijuana Use (“OMMU”) has been under fire over the past years due to the lack of new licenses for Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (“MMTC”) as the current licensed MMTCs are unable to serve the increasing number of patients in accordance with Fla. Stat. § 381.936(8)(a)(4).
However, to those wishing to enter the largest Medical Marijuana Market in the country, now is the time to prepare your business operations to enter Florida’s billion-dollar industry as the OMMU has released its initial Emergency Rule to begin the state’s newest licensing process. Pursuant to 64ER22-9 “Application for MMTC Licensure,” new MMTC licenses will be awarded in “batching cycles.” According to the new Emergency Rule, a “batching cycle” means “the grouping for comparative review of applications for MMTC licensure that are submitted for a specified number of available MMTC licenses within the same application window.” Thus, under this Emergency Rule, the OMMU will not issue all twenty-two (22) licenses required by law in the same cycle.
Similar to the recent Pigford/BFL application period, the Emergency Rule states that the OMMU will be providing follow-up rules with details on the timeline for submission. As detailed generally in the Emergency Rule, the designated “application window” will be a five (5)-day period during which the OMMU will accept applications for that specific batching cycle, including the date and time that the OMMU permits submission of the application. Prospective applicants should remain vigilant to the upcoming rules to follow 64ER22-9 as the OMMU will be setting forth not only the application window, but also the available number of MMTC licenses to be issued in the batching cycle.
To enter the Sunshine State’s lucrative Medical Marijuana industry, prospective applicants will have to pay an expensive, non-refundable application fee of $146,000, which shall only apply to the batching cycle in which the applicant applies for. In the event a qualified Pigford/BFL applicant seeks to transfer their initial application fee from the Pigford/BFL batching cycle pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 381.936(8)(a)(2)(b), he/she must request such transfer by submitting a completed Form 6 of the “Medical Marijuana Treatment Center License Application Instructions, Requirements, and Forms.” In furtherance, the application for MMTC licensure shall only be considered for the batching cycle in which it is submitted for.
Additionally, all prospective applicants must maintain strict compliance with the OMMU’s application requirements contained in Form DH8052-OMMU-12/12/2022, “Medical Marijuana Treatment Center License Application Instructions, Requirements, and Forms,” which is incorporated by reference and available at https://knowthefactsmmj.com/rules-and-regulations/. Similarly, 64ER22-9 set forth that application for the new MMTC licenses shall be evaluated and scored by evaluators as described in the “Medical Marijuana Treatment Center License Application Instructions, Requirements, and Forms.” The evaluators will be provided Form DH8051-OMMU-12/12/2022, “Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Evaluator Instructions Manual,” incorporated by reference herein and available at https://knowthefactsmmj.com/rules-and-regulations.
Lastly, the Emergency Rule details that in the event additional licenses become available before a final agency action on applications submitted during any given batching cycle, such additional licenses will be subject to and awarded through a separate batching cycle published by the OMMU. An applicant will not be awarded an MMTC license from an application batching cycle in which the applicant did not apply.
This is just the beginning to Florida’s new MMTC licensing period. If you are interested in entering the Sunshine State’s billion-dollar Medical Marijuana Market, now is the time to work with a Team of Cannabis Business experts to strategize and build a successful application and future operations. Contact one of our team members today to schedule a call info@cannacoregrp.com