Some medical marijuana patients and caregivers in Florida could see their state cannabis registrations revoked under a bill signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) this week.

DeSantis on Monday signed SB 2514, a broad budget bill that touches on cancer, dentistry and other health-related matters. But it also contains a provision that directs the state Department of Health (DOH) to cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if they’re convicted of—or plead guilty or no contest to—criminal drug charges.

The measure says a patient or caregiver would have their registration immediately suspended upon being charged with a state drug crime, and the suspension would remain in place until the criminal case reaches a final disposition.

DOH officials would have authority to reinstate the registration, revoke it entirely or extend the suspension if needed.

Authorities would be required to revoke a person’s registration if the patient or caregiver “was convicted of, or pled guilty or nolo contendre to, regardless of adjudication, a violation [of state drug law] if such violation was for trafficking in, the sale, manufacture, or delivery of, or possession with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver a controlled substance.”

The enacted version of the legislation focuses specifically on production and distribution. It does not contain an earlier restriction from prior versions that would have also revoked registrations for people who merely purchased illegal drugs, including more than 10 grams of marijuana for their own use.

It also clarifies that patients and caregivers would have a process to request their registrations be reinstated. That would involve submitting a new application “accompanied by a notarized attestation by the applicant that he or she has completed all the terms of incarceration, probation, community control, or supervision related to the offense.”

It’s not clear from the plain language of the revised bill whether it would impact only future criminal cases involving medical marijuana patients and caregivers or whether DOH would need to review the records of existing program registrants and revoke registrations of an untold number of Floridians with past drug convictions.

Notably, lawmakers defeated several proposals to expand the medical cannabis program during this year’s regular legislation session—including by allowing home cultivation, adding new qualifying conditions, protecting employment and parental rights of patients and letting military veterans register for free.

Separately in Florida, advocates are working toward putting a new adult-use marijuana legalization measure on the 2026 state ballot following the failure of Amendment 3 at the polls last November.

After filing the measure and launching a signature drive earlier this year, the campaign Smart & Safe Florida has collected 377,832 valid signatures—about 150,000 more than required to kick off the review process, according to Division of Elections numbers from last month.

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The state is now statutorily obligated to conduct a judicial and financial review of the measure that will determine its legal eligibility and inform the electorate about its potential economic impact.

Smart & Safe Florida is hoping the revised version will succeed in 2026. The campaign—which in the last election cycle received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry stakeholders, principally the multi-state operator Trulieve—incorporated certain changes into the new version that seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.

For example, it now specifically states that the “smoking and vaping of marijuana in any public place is prohibited.”Another section asserts that the legislature would need to approve rules dealing with the “regulation of the time, place, and manner of the public consumption of marijuana.”

Gov. DeSantis had repeatedly condemned the 2024 initiative over that issue, claiming there were not parameters to prevent public smoking, while expressing his distaste for the smell of cannabis.

The governor said in February that the newest measure is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.

Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. It’s not entirely clear why he feels this version would face a different outcome.

While there’s uncertainty around how the state’s highest court will navigate the measure, a poll released in February showed overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform—with 67 percent of Florida voters backing legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.

However, the results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.

In the background of the campaign’s signature development, DeSantis signed a GOP-led bill to impose significant restrictions on the ability to put initiatives on the ballot—a plan that could impair efforts to let voters decide on marijuana legalization next year.

Separately, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.

Ahead of the election, Trump said in September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.

Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.

While Trump endorsed the Florida cannabis initiative—as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access—he has since been silent on cannabis issues. And his cabinet choices have mixed records on marijuana policy.

The Congressional Cannabis Caucus Still Hasn’t Held A Meeting Six Months Into This Session, Co-Chair Says

[PRESS RELEASE] – TORONTO, June 30, 2025 – TerrAscend Corp., a leading North American cannabis company, announced that it has completed a strategic review of its Michigan business operations and decided to exit the Michigan market.

As part of the exit plan, TerrAscend and its consolidated entities intend to sell or divest all of the company’s Michigan assets, including four cultivation and processing facilities, 20 retail dispensaries, and real estate. Net proceeds from the divestitures will be used to pay down existing company debt.

The Michigan exit is expected to be substantially completed in the second half of 2025. The company’s business in Michigan will be reported as discontinued operations beginning with the company’s financial results for the second quarter of 2025.

Following the completion of the Michigan exit, the company will operate 19 dispensaries and four cultivation and processing facilities across five states, including New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and California, and in Toronto, Ontario. The strategic move is expected to meaningfully enhance TerrAscend’s financial profile. The company anticipates improvements across key metrics on a consolidated basis, including gross margin, adjusted EBITDA, and cash flow conversion, in addition to a strengthened balance sheet.

“After an extensive evaluation, we have made the strategic decision to exit the Michigan market,” TerrAscend Executive Chairman Jason Wild said. “Michigan is an extremely difficult market, and we have come to the realization that our resources can be better utilized in our other markets. This move will unlock value for TerrAscend and its shareholders. By concentrating our efforts and resources in the company’s core northeastern U.S. markets—New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio—I am confident that we are now positioned to deliver stronger financial performance, including improved margins and operational efficiencies.”

The actions associated with the Michigan exit plan are expected to include a reduction of approximately 21% of the company’s overall workforce, which consists of about 1,200 employees as of June 30, 2025. Most of this reduction is expected to occur by the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

“We’ve become the mecca for ‘mota’…and we have to ask ourselves: Is that really what we want to be?”

By Patrick Lohmann, Source NM

More than three years after New Mexico legalized recreational marijuana, the state has become a national poster-child for recreational marijuana sales, and not in a good way, argues state Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces).

“We’ve become the mecca for ‘mota’,” Cervantes said, using a slang term for marijuana common in New Mexico. “And we have to ask ourselves: Is that really what we want to be?”

He and other state lawmakers on the Legislature’s interim Courts and Criminal Justice Committee met Monday morning in Taos to discuss the proliferation of shops across the state, as well as their hopes for a new band of cannabis officers tasked with enforcing laws the Legislature enacted when it legalized recreational marijuana in April 2022.

Since legalizing cannabis, New Mexico retailers have sold about $1.7 billion combined in adult-use and medical cannabis, with the help of more than 1,600 licensed cannabis-related businesses such as retailers, testing labs and producers, according to a presentation from state Regulation and Licensing Department officials who spoke at the committee meeting.

While the industry is booming, high-profile examples of marijuana scofflaws in the state prompted lawmakers this session to pass House Bill 10, which funds the hiring and training of a new team of fully certified law enforcement officers empowered to bring criminal charges against those they suspect are lying about the source of the marijuana, exploiting their workers or altering the drug.

In the coming days, the state will advertise for a police chief in charge of the new crew of officers, according to Clay Bailey, superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Division. From there, they’ll hire up to six more officers.

“I really want seasoned people that know what they’re doing, [who have] dealt with drugs and things, and know what they’re getting into,” Bailey said of the new hires.

HB 10 also empowers the new officers to do more forensic accounting within the state’s system for tracking growers from seed to sale. The new hires free up inspectors to undertake audits to determine, for example, whether growers are lying about where their inventory came from or if they’re flooding the market with illegal products, Bailey said.

40 dispensaries and one grocery store

No limits exist in state law on the number of licenses that can be issued, and local jurisdictions also cannot ban cannabis dispensaries from operating, according to the Regulation and Licensing Division, though they can control how far apart they must be. Maestas suggested lawmakers change state law to grant control over licenses to towns and cities.

In Sunland Park, which borders Texas, where recreational marijuana is illegal, up to 40 cannabis retailers exist, state officials said Monday.

“This is just not healthy,” said Cervantes, whose senate district includes Sunland Park. “This is not a healthy environment for my community, for Sunland Park to have 36 [to] 40 dispensaries, one grocery store, maybe one liquor store.”

According to state data presented Monday, the town of less than 20,000 people has generated the second-highest amount of marijuana revenue in the state since April 2022. Regulators have tallied more than $127 million in recreational sales revenue from nearly 3 million transactions. Albuquerque, the highest-earning city, has generated more than $350 million.

According to a 2024 Pew Research Center study, Oklahoma has the highest number of marijuana dispensaries per capita in the country, with 36 per 100,000 residents. Cervantes estimated New Mexico to be about 30 per 100,000, which puts it far ahead of early marijuana adopters California and Colorado.

A coalition of about 100 cannabis businesses in June 2023 asked the governor to issue a pause on new licenses, saying they faced too much competition and chaos from a “flourishing” black market.

The issue has not gone away. Several lawmakers said they want to see the issue addressed in next year’s 30-day legislative session. Though budget-focused, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) could deem the topic germane.

“I hope you’ll ask the governor to fix what needs to be fixed,” Cervantes told the state cannabis regulators at the meeting, “and have us do that in the remaining administration in the 30-day session coming up.

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Monday afternoon. However, in a town hall meeting in July in Española, the governor did acknowledge that the state needed to fix its process for licensing, in response to a resident’s complaint about the number of dispensaries.

“Expect the state to propose some restrictions,” the governor said, drawing applause, saying that the licensing “didn’t roll out the way we intended for it to roll out.”

This story was first published by Source NM.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.