Commerce company Leafly has carved out a niche as one of the nation’s leading shopping sites for all things cannabis. Leafly and similar websites allow visitors to peruse the stock available at medical marijuana dispensaries, place orders online and pick up and pay for the goods at local storefronts. But Florida health regulators this year stopped medical marijuana operators from using Leafly and other third-party sites to process patient preorders, saying the services violate a state law banning operators from contracting for services “directly related to the cultivation, processing and dispensing” of cannabis. The Seattle-based Leafly Holdings, however, disputes that it is engaging in activity related to the dispensing of cannabis products and last week filed a legal challenge. The company’s petition asks an administrative law judge to find that the Florida Department of Health employed an “unadopted and invalid rule” to conclude that the online services violate the law. Until February, many of the state’s licensed medical marijuana operators relied on Leafly and another well-known e-commerce cannabis company — I Heart Jane — to help provide online shopping services for Florida patients.
Tampa Publishing Company, Florida’s favorite paper, Tampa Bay’s favorite local news site, 08/16/2021 20:00:00