An administrative decide in Florida lifted the ban on Leafly and different third-party web sites from helping medical hashish dispensaries with on-line affected person orders, in line with the News Service of Florida. The lawsuit was filed by Leafly after the Florida Division of Well being (DOH) mentioned theirs, and different websites, actions have been “instantly associated to the cultivation, processing and meting out” of hashish, which well being officers believed was a violation of state legislation.
Administrative Decide Suzanne Van Wyk disagreed with the state, writing in her ruling that the state should “instantly discontinue reliance on its coverage … concerning on-line ordering of medical marijuana via third-party web sites.”
The difficulty started when Florida Division of Well being officers despatched out a February 1 memo informing dispensaries the apply of contracting with Leafly and related websites to course of on-line affected person deliveries was unlawful and might be punished with a $5,000 positive. The state contended that by counting on the websites to conduct affected person orders, suppliers have been violating Florida’s vertical integration legislation, a market construction not too long ago upheld by the Florida Supreme Court docket that requires hashish companies to deal with all features of hashish cultivation, processing, and distribution from seed to buyer.
Former DOH Chief of Workers Courtney Coppola wrote within the February memo that “contracting with Leafly.com, or some other third-party web site, for companies instantly associated to meting out is a violation of this provision.”
However Van Wyk threw out the coverage on the grounds it was an unadopted rule, writing that the memo “doesn’t merely reiterate the statute, however locations a building on the statute that’s not readily obvious on its face. The statute doesn’t deal with third-party web sites or on-line ordering.”
The decide didn’t go as far as to name the rule invalid as argued by Leafly lawyer Seann Frazier, noting she didn’t have the authority to invalidate the rule fully. Nonetheless, she would toss out the state’s argument that Leafly lacked standing to file the lawsuit, saying the Seattle-based firm “has sustained cancelation of actual contracts.”
In an e-mail to Ganjaprenuer, Leafly CEO Yoko Miyashita mentioned she was happy with the ruling, writing that the corporate is “thrilled that the courts have sided with protected entry to hashish for sufferers.
“By permitting companies like Leafly Pickup, shoppers have higher potential to analysis upfront prior to buy and retailers have extra efficient technique of serving the affected person communities,” she mentioned within the assertion. “We stay up for working with our companions to restart Leafly Pickup all through Florida successfully instantly.”
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