Pensacola man with epilepsy sues for access to medical marijuana

A Pensacola man is suing multiple Florida officials because the state missed its deadline to license several new medical marijuana treatment centers.

Michael Bowen suffers from epilepsy and requires medicinal marijuana to prevent his seizures, a complaint filed in a Leon County Circuit Court claims.

In 2016, 71 percent of Floridians voted to expand the availability of medicinal cannabis to citizens with certain debilitating conditions, and eventually the state authorized a handful of companies to cultivate, process and dispense medical marijuana.

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The Florida Legislature later required the Department of Health to license 10 additional medical marijuana treatment centers by Oct. 3, 2017, and that date has passed with the DOH issuing only six of the required licenses, the suit claims.

The lawsuit states that Bowen's "life is at risk" without medication, so he has an "actual and present interest in ensuring an adequate supply of medicinal marijuana in the marketplace as determined by the Florida Legislature."

Pensacola has one licensed medical marijuana treatment center, Trulieve, which opened on Davis Highway earlier this year.

Still, the lawsuit says different cannabis strains have different health affects, genetic makeups and cutting agents, and that a strain that works for one patient may not work for another.

"The DOH's failure to license all 10 of the required MMTCs has therefore limited the available strains on the market and diminished patients' ability to find strains that work for them," the complaint states.

Bowen is joined in the suit by Bill's Nursery Inc., a Miami-based plant nursery that was denied a license to dispense medical marijuana through a process an administrative law judge later found to be faulty.

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The suit names the DOH, Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip and Christian Bax, the director of the Office of Medical Marijuana Use, as defendants in the case.

Bax has previously said his office would not issue any additional licenses while the entity dealt with litigation related to alleged discriminatory licensing practices, the complaint states.

The plaintiffs are seeking a court order declaring the DOH in violation of the Florida Constitution. They also ask that the DOH be ordered to re-open the application process and issue at least four more medical marijuana treatment center licenses "forthwith."

Kevin Robinson can be reached at krobinson4@pnj.com and 850-435-8527.