Florida Registry vs. Rest of the USA

 

If you’ve ever traveled outside the state of Florida to other canna-friendly states, you’ve likely noticed there are some glaring differences between our state and the rest of the country.

 

As with all medical cannabis states, Florida requires a practicing physician with a state cannabis accreditation to certify or sign off on your need for medical cannabis. This is done by qualifying the patient with specific medical conditions predetermined by the state to reasonably require medical cannabis to treat.

 

Where Florida deviates from most other states, is with the purchasing of products from MMTC’s (medical marijuana treatment centers). Florida is only one of the very few states that treat cannabis as a controlled substance; almost similar to a narcotics prescription.  The state’s cannabis program is called the Office of Medical Marijuana Use or OMMU. The system where the state monitors the dispensation of product per patient is called the Medical Marijuana Use Registry, or MMUR for short.

 

Instead of receiving a prescription from your physician, you receive a recommendation. This recommendation includes different routes to delivery such as flower, vape, and edibles. You and your physician will determine together the best modalities for your condition.

 

Accessing your registry

Your registry access comes from your recommending physician. They will create a profile for you that sends an email with your username & password. Upon logging in, the system will require you to change your password and then annually moving forward.

 

Once in the registry, you will need to provide proof of Florida residency, usually done by linking with the state DMV. If an out-of-state license, there are additional steps to take to provide proof of your partial residency by uploading a document from the State’s preapproved list (utility bill, lease, mortgage, etc..).

 

Card Management

 

There are 3 main components to managing your card in the MMUR.

1. Card renewal
2. Recommendation
3. Leaving your physician

 

The OMMU requires the physical card to be renewed once a year. Think about this in comparison to your vehicle registration – it must be renewed annually to keep using the vehicle legally. Your recommendation from the physician is good for 210 days – 7 months. You must see your physician every 7 months to keep your recommendation active. If your card is unexpired, your recommendation could be expired and you could be unable to purchase any products from the MMTC’s.

 

The OMMU also sets restrictions on what physicians can manage inside your registry. The physician is in control of creating your profile if you are a new patient, managing your demographic information, and managing the medication dispensation, and that’s it. You are the only one able to update your address, renew your card, or leave your physician.

 

Reading your Recommendation

With Florida, all desired routes of delivery must be on your individual recommendation before the MMTC will dispense the product to you. As in, if you want to purchase an edible and your physician did not include it in your recommendation, the dispensary will not sell the item to you. That is the case with all products.

 

Currently, the state of Florida offers the following route to delivery for cannabis consumption:

• Inhalation (vape, concentrate, etc.)
• Flower (raw bud from the cannabis plant)
• Edible
• Topical
• Suppository
• Oral

 

Each route to delivery has a 70-day recommendation and a pre-determined amount of dispensation in milligrams. Again – to make a comparison of this as a traditional doctor script – they provide the medication, the count, and the duration of the prescription.

 

Ex: you could receive a 90-day script for Zoloft 5mg, 0 refills.

 

This is parallel to how the state structured the cannabis program: you receive a route to delivery (medication), the count (15,000mg), and the recommendation is only good for 70 days.

 

Summary

Using the Florida Registry can be daunting at first, but once you gain some familiarity with it, it’s extremely helpful in preventing any surprises at the dispensary. Reach out to your doctor if you have ongoing issues – they can help you understand how to use it to its maximum potential!