he bill is being touted as the ‘first major update’ to Florida’s five-year-old medical marijuana laws.
A bipartisan proposal seeking a middle ground in the debate over medical marijuana and hemp regulation hit the Florida Legislature this week.
On Monday, Democratic Rep. Andrew Learned of Brandon and Republican Rep. Spencer Roach of Fort Myers introduced HB 679, which they described in an accompanying press note as the “first major update” to Florida’s medical statutes since voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment five years ago.
“We are working to deliver significant cost savings for patients, make the program more user-friendly and at the same time ensure safety for both patients and our children,” Learned said.
The bill, which bears some similarity to failed proposals Roach filed last Legislative Session, would, among other things, close “loopholes” related to synthetic marijuana and the largely hemp-derived delta-8 type of THC.
The bill would lengthen the terms of medical marijuana licenses and the time between required doctor appointments, which combined would cut an estimated 60% of the cost of participation in the state’s medical-marijuana program.

It would also remove doctor appointments for medical marijuana license recertification under specific guidelines, ban related advertising that markets to children, end the practice of “flipping” medical marijuana treatment center licenses for monetary gain and create new testing regimens to increase the safety of products, the transparency of state regulations and the efficacy of roadside impaired-driver testing.