Three days after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law revoking a ban on smokable medical marijuana, Trulieve scored the first sale of whole-flower bud in Florida this morning at its Tallahassee dispensary.

“We are excited about the opportunity to sell whole flower smokable products to patients in Florida and honored to be the first company in Florida to do so," Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said.

Trulieve’s smokable product will be sold at all 26 of the medical marijuana treatment center's dispensaries, including Pensacola, Melbourne, Fort Myers, Vero Beach, and Miami. The cannabis will be available in a rotating selection of popular strains and forms, including pre-roll.

She thanked the governor for signing SB 182 into law Monday, lifting the ban put in place by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2017, months after voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 2 authorizing MMTCs to sell medical marijuana in all forms as authorized by patients' physicians.

Trulieve in the news:

And she thanked Department of Health and the Office of Medical Marijuana Use "for their quick action to make today a reality for patients in need."

"Offering these whole flower products to our patients in their purest, most effective form is something we – and patients – have been looking forward to since we opened the doors of the state’s first dispensary,” Rivers said.

Curaleaf and Altmed also submitted applications prior to the signing of SB 182 into law, but only Trulieve and Curaleaf were approved as of today, officials said.

Dr. Cheryl Fee, a Tallahassee-based physician whose office DOC MJ is two doors down from Trulieve, made the recommendation for her patient, Douglas Dixon.

“It’s an honor to be a part of the first sale and provide patients that need this smokable whole-flower option,” Fee said in a news release.

Dixon, a Crawfordville resident, said since he started using medical marijuana two years ago he's gone off 15 pharmaceutical prescriptions, including pain killers, Xanax and heart medicine.

And he's gained 35 pounds.

"It's a total transformation," Dixon said. "I'm not in pain anymore. My appetite is back. I have no anxiety. I can sleep at night."

He's looking forward to going off the vape pen, he said, because the vape pen burned his throat.

Dixon has tried other licensed medical marijuana companies, but prefers Trulieve. "I feel comfortable here," he said.

Trulieve customer Marty Williams, a retired registered nurse who has smoked recreationally for decades and smoked legally when he lived in California, is thrilled about the changes in Florida. He moved back from California, where it was legal, to Florida before it became legal.

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"Not being able to get it all of a sudden was a step back in time," said Williams, who was at the store Thursday when the first sale took place.

He said he won't ask his doctor for flower because he already buys the vape containers, breaks them open and smokes the flower intended for the vape pen.

"This whole medical marijuana thing is just a way to get it legalized," he said.

Under the law, physicians who are certified by the Office of Medical Marijuana Use to recommend medical cannabis can authorize their patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of flower or bud ever 35 days. Patients can stockpile up to four ounces at any given time.

The law also laid out guidelines for packaging and labeling of content, which apparently made it easier for the Department of Health to approve Trulieve's pre-submitted application to sell flower in its natural form.

"Trulieve and other MMTCs have had (flower) products in the works for quite some time," Rivers said.

The company already sold flower in an encapsulated container for use with a vape pen. What the DOH approved was the same product, same weight and bud amount as in the vape container, she said.

Curaleaf, Altmed and Vidacann also sold encapsulated flower for vape pens.

Curaleaf received approval from the DOH Thursday afternoon to sell smokable medical marijuana products in their dispensaries, spokeswoman Lauren Garcia-Velez said.

"The company is currently making final preparations to transport smokable medical marijuana products within the next couple of days," Garcia-Velez said.

Not all MMTCs in Florida pre-submitted their applications to sell flower.

"Surterra Wellness submitted its product application with the DOH this morning and anticipates the DOH's decision in the coming days," said Kim Hawkes, senior manager of government and public relations for Surterra.

More:Surterra, Trulieve vie for statewide marijuana market

Contact Schweers at jschweers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.