Miami finally approves the first medicinal cannabis dispensary

Los Angeles investors can open stores as Miami City ends years of silent bans on medical marijuana vendors

There are over 425 pharmacies spread across the state of Florida. Somehow Miami doesn’t have any.

This is about to change soon. Last week, Los Angeles investors were granted a land use certificate by a 3-2 vote from the Miami City Commissioners. Investment group MRC44 is now planning to open the city’s first medicinal cannabis dispensary after years of delays.

The policy change will allow the LA Group to begin the permitting process required to open a new pharmacy. Your location will be downtown near Space and E11even nightclubs at 90 NE 11 Street in the Overtown Historic District.

Prosecutor Victoria Mendéz blamed the conflict between state and federal cannabis laws for the lack of decision-making on the matter.

What took so long?

When Florida’s statewide referendum legalizing the medical marijuana industry went into effect in 2016, the City of Miami took no steps to ban or regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

But the surrounding communities of Coral Gables, Aventura, unincorporated Miami-Dade County, and South Miami all welcomed the opportunity to participate in Florida’s burgeoning cannabis economy.

So MRC44 had to sue the city of Miami to get legal permission to open the pharmacy.

This 420-friendly BNB in ​​Miami could see increased demand as more pharmacies pop up across the city. (Courtesy of Vibesbnb)

Although the city legislature has not acted for more than 5 years, a federal judge has ruled that issuing a certificate of occupancy to the company is actually the commission’s job.

Some Florida lawmakers still oppose cannabis

The discrepancy between state and federal law wasn’t the only point of contention for the state’s cannabis commission.

Commissioners Joe Carollo and Manolo Reyes voted against the measure. Their main concern was the lack of supervision. Regulators claim that loose enforcement will create a slippery slope leading to illicit drug use, contaminated products and child endangerment.

Commissioner Reyes was appointed Chair of the Downtown Development Authority in 2019. In his role, he supported the promotion and development of Downtown Miami.

“[Dispensaries] it will all be over Wherever you go, and it’s legal, you see people smoking weed on the street,” Reyes said.

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Agreeing with Reyes, Carollo went on to explain that the commission needed to establish “extremely clear” guidelines before proceeding.

Commissioners Ken Russel, Alex Díaz de la Portilla and Christine King argued that they had the authority to rule on the conflict between state and federal law.

“I believe the city’s position is on the wrong side. It’s happening,” Commissioner King said. “It is in the Constitution that medical marijuana is legal in the state of Florida.”

Commissioner Russel added: “Florida voters decided it should be accessible in our state. Due to the conflict between state and federal law; Our city commission had to settle the dispute over whether our residents would get that access,” Russel, a Democratic nominee for Congress, told The Miami Herald.

There goes the neighborhood

Overtown, where the dispensary owners plan to open, is currently a hotbed for the opioid epidemic and the illicit trade. But residents also say a less visible force is affecting their community.

“This part of Miami is burning with gentrification efforts,” says Timothy Brown Jr., a Miami resident, cannabis entrepreneur and membership chair for Cannabis LAB.

“They call it downtown, but it’s closer to Overtown,” Brown says of the changes he’s seeing. “What was once the joke of the fentanyl epidemic will soon be the most expensive property in Miami.”

Brown believes the city’s dispensary approval will benefit dramatically, calling it a “busy tourist attraction” and “a win-win for the city and landowners.”

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Once called the “Colored Town” during the Jim Crow era, Overtown has been a respected center of black culture and commerce throughout local history.

Brown, whose business employs alumni from his coaching days at Booker T. Washington High School, is confident that locating cannabis companies to the area will bring positive change to the community. Just like in studies showing a connection between cannabis use and reduced opioid, alcohol and nicotine consumption.

“I believe with the right education, the negative stigma attached to cannabis can be overcome,” Brown said.

Next up: The Miami City Commission will rule on an ordinance that would allow them to regulate pharmacies the same way they regulate pharmacies.

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Lyneisha Watson

Lyneisha Watson is a Florida-based journalist who has covered cannabis for HighTimes, Miss Grass, The Emerald Magazine and Farmer and the Felon. Her writing has also appeared in Columbia Journalism Review, Blavity and Black Girl in Om.

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