The number of registered medical cannabis patients continued to rise in Florida during the fiscal year 2023; a state panel said in a new annual report—although the rate of growth slowed slightly from previous years as the system matures and attention turns to an adult-use legalization measure that may go before voters on the November ballot.
The number of individual patients enrolled in the program, for example, grew by 15 percent in fiscal 2023 compared to the previous year, down from 25 percent growth from 2021 to 2022.
Average daily doses, meanwhile, were lower during the most recent fiscal year (FY)—which spanned July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023—due in large part to the state’s implementation of an emergency rule that set daily dosing limits. The report also found that, consistent with past years, a relatively small portion of doctors who were certified to recommend medical cannabis wrote a big share of certifications to patients.
The 2024 Physician Certification Pattern Review annual report was produced by the state’s Physician Certification Pattern Review Panel, a seven-member body jointly created under statute by the Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine. The panel is required by law to issue findings and recommendations about the state’s cannabis program by January 1 each year.
Read more at marijuanamoment.net