Friday 17 March 2017

State health department wants to regulate pesticides used on medical marijuana



The Florida Department of Health is moving forward with a proposed rule that would allow marijuana growers licensed under Florida’s medical cannabis laws to use “minimum risk pesticides” on plants.

The rule would limit growers' options for managing pests or fungus common when growing plants, while still offering some options for ensuring marijuana plants don't fall victim to crop-ruining bugs or fungus-producing diseases.
There are currently seven approved medical marijuana growers in Florida, but that number could grow as Amendment 2 implementation plans are finalized. Some versions of those plans include access to the market for additional entrepreneurs.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had deemed that such pesticides “pose little to no risk to human health or the environment” and has exempted them from registering under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

Minimum risk pesticides contain natural substances often used in various pesticide capacities like organic oils, citric acid, sodium chloride and malic acid, among others.

The proposed rule is a continuation of the Amendment 2 medical marijuana implementation process. 

Most rules to date have centered on who can grow, cultivate and sell medical marijuana, how patients can register to qualify as a medical recipient and how much of the drug patients can purchase at a time.

Implementation procedures are being considered by the Florida Department of Health and there are several legislative proposals being considered during this year’s legislative session.

Floridians overwhelmingly approved Amendment 2 in November. It legalizes marijuana for medical use for patients with a variety of ailments and widely expands Florida’s previous medical marijuana laws that only allowed patients suffering from cancer or severe epilepsy access to non-euphoric cannabis. Full-strength marijuana was only available to terminally ill patients under Florida’s previous laws.

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