State health regulators on Monday set in motion a process to issue up to 22 more medical cannabis licenses, in a highly anticipated move that could double the size of Florida's medical cannabis industry.
The state Department of Health also published an emergency rule that would make it far more expensive for cannabis operators to renew their licenses every two years, increasing the cost from roughly $60,000 to more than $1 million.
The jump in the renewal fees came after Gov. Ron DeSantis this year said medical cannabis companies weren't paying enough to operate in the state, where licenses have sold for more than $50 million.
Under an emergency rule setting up the process to apply for new licenses, health officials would accept applications in "batching cycles." The plan said the windows for the batching cycles will be established in a separate rule but did not say how many licenses would be up for grabs in each cycle.
For former senator Jeff Brandes, he said the problem isn't the number of licenses but the structure of the licenses.
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