Florida’s Budding Cannabis Industry Expands With New Hemp Law

According to a research report published by Cowen & Co. earlier this year, the investment bank believes that the U.S. market for cannabidiol (CBD) consumer goods could reach $16 billion—a “conservative” forecast—by 2025, up from between $600 million and $2 billion in 2018 retail sales. As the third-most populous state in the country, this is a very big deal for Florida.

Florida’s state hemp program law, Section 581.217, Fla. Stat., created by the enactment of Senate Bill 1020, has the potential to transform Florida’s agricultural landscape while also capitalizing on a fertile market of enthusiastic cultivators and eager consumers.

With a population of more than 21 million, Florida has long been viewed as ripe for potential commercialization by the cannabis industry. Gov. Ron DeSantis made headlines in March when he signed legislation that effectively repealed the ban on smoking and “vaping” medical cannabis. Yet outside of Florida’s medical marijuana program (and the hemp pilot project discussed below), cannabis—which includes hemp and hemp-derived products—has remained a controlled substance, making the manufacture, processing, sale and possession of hemp or hemp-derived products (including cannabidiol, i.e., CBD-infused items) a criminal endeavor. Even within the state’s medical use program, the cultivation of cannabis, even for medicinal purposes, remains tightly regulated.

To read the full text of this article by Justin M. L. Stern, Robert A. Zinn, Jay Steinman and Jennifer A. Migliori, please visit the Duane Morris website.

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The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the author and are not to be construed as legal advice.

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