Tara Tedrow is a shareholder in the firm’s Land Use, Zoning & Environmental Group and serves as chair of the Cannabis & Controlled Substances Group. She is a multiyear adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law teaching the only Medical Marijuana Law & Policy course. She brings years of experience handling an array of complex legal matters for multi-billion-dollar valued companies and entrepreneurs alike.
CEDR: Tara, how did you get into cannabis law?
Tara: Our firm, Lowndes was fortunate to have represented Knox Medical, one of the first approved medical marijuana dispensing organizations in the state of Florida. Bruce Knox, the founder, was already an existing client of the firm prior to his licensure in the medical marijuana industry, so it was an easy transition to assist in land use matters for the retail dispensing aspect of his new business.
I started assisting Knox with their dispensary program and obtaining statewide approvals from local governments, which is exactly what I was already doing for other land development clients. Obtaining approvals for residential, office, commercial and retail developers made it easy to then also workaround the state with local governments on ordinances to permit dispensaries or obtaining permits to open dispensaries in municipalities and counties that were otherwise allowing them.
The firm’s cannabis practice really blossomed from there because after having represented additional licensed medical marijuana companies in the state, we then began to represent ancillary service providers, lenders, landlords leasing spaces for dispensaries, banks, physicians and other medical cannabis related companies. There was, and continues to be, an intersectionality between the cannabis space and what our firm already offers as areas of expertise to clients. So, we were able to bring in our corporate, finance, tax, regulatory, real estate, litigation, land use, employment, and other practice areas under the umbrella of the firm’s Cannabis and Controlled Substances Practice Group, which I formed, and chair for our law firm. Our multidisciplinary approach to handling cannabis and hemp clients’ needs allows our clients to essentially have a one stop shop for addressing the myriad of complex issues that those industries face.
CEDR: Could you please share some details about the new edibles ruling in Florida.
Tara: The cannabis industry has been waiting for rules on edibles to come out as both patients and licensed medical marijuana treatment centers have wanted those products to be offered. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) came out with their regulations prior to the Department of Health Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU). Though the state medical marijuana industry is predominately controlled by the OMMU, FDACS had such regulatory authority because edibles are a food product, and products intended for human consumption sold in Florida need to be licensed and permitted by FDACS.
Additionally, the OMMU very recently issued their requirements for medical marijuana edibles. This is a welcome expansion for the industry because it provides additional options for qualified patients who have a recommendation from a licensed and qualified physician in the state of Florida.
Details on the Standards For Production of Edibles in Florida can be found here.
CEDR: Will the MMTC’s be producing their own products?
Tara: The way the rules are currently written, medical marijuana treatment centers have to be vertically integrated. There was a Supreme Court case challenging vertical integration a second round of oral arguments will be heard in October of this year. The Supreme Court will thereafter decide whether vertical integration is unconstitutional.
Right now, vertical integration is still the model in Florida, which means any licensed MMTC has to cultivate, process and package their medical marijuana products (which includes smokable flower) and transport them to their approved retail dispensaries or to patients via an at home delivery service. Thus, all aspects of the supply chain are controlled by the licensed company under the current model of vertical integration.
CEDR: Thank you Tara for the timely insights!
