Medical insurance doesn’t cover it, and fewer than a dozen local physicians can prescribe it, but the medical marijuana business is quickly — if quietly — growing in Gainesville.

And though business is growing, the first physician in Gainesville to recommend the use of medical marijuana for medicinal purposes, Dr. Justin Davis, said many of his peers remain leery about getting the license to write orders for medical marijuana.

“There are only a relatively small number of doctors licensed to write orders for medical marijuana because the rules and regulations governing the practice are confusing, cumbersome and intimidating to a lot of doctors, said Davis, a Gainesville-based family physician with Florida Marijuana Doctors, tucked into office space on Northwest 41st Street.

Gov. Rick Scott provided some clarity in late June to the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative when he signed Senate Bill 8A governing the law’s rules and regulations. The initiative, billed as Amendment 2 on the general election ballot last November, was approved by 71 percent of voters.

The law Scott signed June 23 allows patients to use cannabis pills, oils, edibles and “vape” pens with a doctor’s approval, but bans smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes.

It also eliminated a 90-day waiting period for patients to get their orders filled that was written into law by the Legislature when it passed the Compassionate Medical Cannibas Act in 2014, which first legalized medical marijuana in Florida. The act gave doctors some authority in marijuana treatments for certain patients with non-THC forms of the plant, and mandated that medical marijuana with THC in it could only be prescribed those suffering with terminal illnesses.

Tetrahydrocannabilol, THC, is the main psychoactive substance found in marijuana.

The law governing medical marijuana signed by Scott expanded the types of conditions that can be treated with medical marijuana with THC to include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), cancer, Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, chronic nonmalignant pain and terminal illnesses.

Knox Medical, at 3400 SW 34th St., last month became the first medical marijuana dispensary to open in Gainesville.

Knox sells its medical marijuana products for $45 for 300 milligrams and $90 for 600 milligrams in the form of oils and vapor cartridges, according to its website.

Dr. Caroline Rains of Compassionate Care Clinics of America in Gainesville, located in the same building as Knox Medical, has been licensed to write orders for medical marijuana since early April.

“We have seen more than 100 patients,” said Rains, who worked at the Alachua County Health Department for nearly 30 years. “We have seen a steady stream of patients since I started Compassionate Care Clinic in April.”

Rebecca Groom, Compassionate Care Clinic's office manager, said about 200 patients have visited Rains seeking recommendations to get their medical marijuana identification cards, which allows them to receive written orders for medical marijuana.

“Just over 20 of our patients have received recommendations and their ID cards to purchase medical marijuana,” Groom said.

The legislation passed in 2014 didn’t please many medical marijuana advocates, and a petition drive was established to get Amendment 2 on the ballot. The first medical marijuana initiative put on a statewide ballot in the general election in 2014 failed, but after advocates regrouped and put forth a more successful public campaign, voters approved the more expanded Amendment 2 last year.

A lot of people didn’t realize medical marijuana was legal in Florida until after Amendment 2 was passed, Davis said. Now they do, he said.

“Growth has been exponential since the passing of Amendment 2,” Davis said.

The use of medical marijuana is hampered, he said, because insurance companies don’t pay for visits to doctors’ offices to receive written orders or pay for the medical marijuana itself.

Davis became licensed to recommend the use of medical marijuana in 2015, and last August became the first doctor in Gainesville to do so.

He writes orders for medical marijuana for people suffering mostly from post-traumatic stress disorder-related problems and people living with chronic pain, Davis said.

Davis is one of 11 doctors in the Gainesville area licensed to write orders for medical marijuana. To become licensed to write orders, doctors must take a two-hour, state-administered course.

Besides Davis and Rains, the other doctors are Naglaa Abdel-Al, Lawrence Adu, John Bailey, Geraldine Bichier, Matthew Ellis, Michael MacMillan, Innocent Odocha and Mahesh Setty, all based in Gainesville. Brent Stewart is based in Jonesville.

For patients to receive medical marijuana ID cards that allow them to purchase medical marijuana, they have to be treated by a qualified physician, said Mara Gambineri, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, the agency that oversees medical marijuana in Florida.

“Once the ordering physician inputs the patient’s information and the order information into the Medical Marijuana Use Registry, the patient or the patient’s legal representative need to apply for a Medical Marijuana Use Registry identification card,” Gambineri said. “Once approved, a patient or legal representative will then be able to contact one of the licensed medical marijuana treatment centers and fill the order.”

It takes about 30 days for applications to be processed, Gambineri said, and 26,968 patients are registered throughout the state. County numbers aren't reported because of a state statute that blocks that information from public view, she said.

Three of the 11 Gainesville area doctors have only been licensed to write orders since late June. Seven of the 11 became licensed to order medical marijuana soon after Amendment 2 was approved by voters, according to records on the DOH website.

Editor's note: This story has been changed to note that doctors take a two-hour course to become licensed to write medical marijuana orders, and there is no minimum amount of time patients must be treated by a qualified physician before they be eligible to receive medical marijuana.