Two Black farmers have received licenses to grow, process and sell medical marijuana in Florida. The Florida Department of Health issued the licenses July 11. Both farmers had to put down a required $5 million bond to begin operating and will have to seek authorization to begin cultivating marijuana plants within two months. With the new additions, Florida now has 24 licensed medical-marijuana operators.
The two Blacks farmers are the first in Florida to be awarded licenses since voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2016 that broadly allowed medical marijuana, and the state passed enacted a 2017 law that earmarked several medical-marijuana license for Black farmers with ties to doing business in the state. The farmer also had to be part of decades-old class-action lawsuits, known as the “Pigford” cases, against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over discriminatory lending practices.
State health officials accepted applications for the Black farmer license in March 2022, after years of delay.
The Black farmers enter the Florida market behind the curve as the state dragged its foot to ensure that African Americans had access to the industry. Since Florida began issuing licenses to grow and distribute medical marijuana one vendor Trulieve has become the nation’s largest.
Many marijuana advocates consider Florida a prime market for recreational marijuana use with State economists predicting that authorizing recreational use could generate $195.6 million to $431.3 million a year in new state and local sales taxes.