Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use (OMMU) promised patients that new operator licenses were coming in the spring of 2023. More than two-and-a-half years later, patients and prospective operators still wait.
It took more than a year to announce prospective winners, during which Florida went through a campaign to legalize adult-use cannabis at the ballot. The ballot effort ultimately failed the state’s 60% mandatory threshold of support. Shortly after the election last year, OMMU announced 22 applicants had been selected from a pool of about 70 to receive medical licenses.
Now, about a dozen applicants that appealed their rejections are holding up progress. OMMU previously indicated these cases would need to be resolved before they issue the new licenses.
There are reportedly 13 applicants whose appeals have been consolidated into one case before Administrative Law Judge Mary Li Creasy. Hearings began in mid-October and are expected to last through February.
State law requires that four new medical cannabis licenses be made available, in addition to the original 24, for every 100,000 patients that enroll. The 22 new licenses announced in 2023 were to be the first new licenses since the market launched in 2016. There are currently 929,916 registered medical patients in the state, so technically, the state should have 36 additional licenses available.
Since the market’s launch, the state has awarded three additional licenses to so-called Pigford/Black Farmer applicants that were given an opportunity to apply as a result of a lawsuit.
There are currently 25 active vertical integrator licenses that can operate multiple shops. Four license holders control over half of the total 734 dispensaries statewide. Trulieve Inc., a major funder of the adult-use legalization effort, has the most with 162 dispensing locations.
“Florida’s medical cannabis licensing process remains in a state of limbo,” said attorney Paula Savchenko, who is a founding partner of Cannacore Group and PS Law Group. “Although the Department of Health announced its intent to issue 22 new licenses, none of those licenses have actually been awarded due to ongoing legal challenges.”
OMMU did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the licensing situation, saying only that any updates would be included in the agency’s weekly update notice.
Appellants challenge scoring process
Thirteen appellate cases involving denied applicants were pending as of Friday, Nov. 21, according to Savchenko, who is currently representing four of them. Hearings for those cases are expected to last through next February.
Savchenko represents two petitioners that have cases before the Division of Administrative Hearings, and two more have cases before the Department of Health (DOH). The cases before the administrative judges involve disputed facts, while the two before the DOH do not, according to Savchenko.
One of the 13 companies before the Division of Administrative Hearings, Green Penguin Holdings in Jupiter, filed its appeal on Feb. 25, 2025.
“G.P. (Green Penguin Holdings) disputes not only the score provided to the G.P. Application, but also the scores issued to the other applicants in the April 2023 Batching Cycle,” said the seven-page petition.
“Until those cases are resolved, or the department takes alternative action to settle or otherwise move forward, the successful applicants cannot commence operations,” said Savchenko. “This delay impacts not only the applicants themselves, but the broader industry and patient community.”
The DOH announced the tentative winners of 22 medical operator licenses on Nov. 26, 2024, with a list of applicants that were sent a letter of intent-to-approve.
The announcement came about 19 months after the state began accepting applications for those licenses. Since then, the suing applicants and the nominal winners have had to maintain control of property that will become their cultivation, manufacturing or retail site.
Among those who made the cut were some nationally recognizable names, such as Stiiizy, Belushi’s Farm, which includes actor Jim Belushi as a stakeholder, and Theory Wellness, which already operates in six other states.
Wachovia Holdings was also listed among the winners, doing business as Greenlight. Wachovia Holdings lists Shelby Story as its agent.
One of the announced license winners that is still waiting for final approval declined to comment, noting that even though they were not a party to any current litigation, they had been advised by their attorney to not say anything on the record.
