Liberty Health Sciences (CSE: LHS) (OTCQX: LHSIF) has announced that it has received Florida Department of Health approval to sell pre-rolls along with whole flower smokable products to patients in Florida.
Last week, the company reported approval to sell whole flower smokable product to patients in the state.
“We have seen first-hand how easier access to cannabis positively impacts our patient’s lives,” Victor Mancebo, the interim CEO of Liberty, said in a statement. “We hope to bring additional visibility to the importance access plays in helping our patients cope with a host of ailments and other complicated medical conditions. Time and again, we hear from patients how whole-flower marijuana has saved them from negative side effects of prescription drugs.”
Florida Allows Smoking Medical Marijuana
Florida has removed a ban on smoking medical marijuana.
Patients receiving medical marijuana from their doctor can smoke the substance legally under a bill (SB 182) signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis. More than 70% of voters approved a ballot measure in 2016 legalizing marijuana for medical use, but the Florida Legislature passed a bill a year later that banned it in smokable forms. The new law, however, provides patients the ability to access medicine in the form their doctor determines best for them, whether it’s smoking medical marijuana or using other delivery systems.
“We applaud Governor DeSantis for signing bill SB 182 that allows qualified patients to smoke medical marijuana. We are ready to meet the needs of our patients and will work with doctors who prescribe safe, smokable flower to best treat their patients with the delivery mechanism they feel is most appropriate,” Mancebo stated.
According to a survey from MJ Freeway and New Frontier Data, flowers are still the most popular way to consume cannabis with minimal processing. States that allow flower in their medical marijuana program see an increase in patients.
Nearly 195,000 Floridians have signed up with the Department of Health to receive medical marijuana as a form of treatment for a list of qualifying illnesses, such as cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV/AIDs, chronic pain and others.
By 2020, medical marijuana sales in the U.S. is expected to hit between $4.9 and $6.1 billion, according to market and consumer data provider Statista.