Governor Ron DeSantis dropped a bombshell in his announcement to drop his forerunner’s appeal. The appeal was against the legalization of the cannabis bud for medical cannabis patients. The Governor’s announcements came as a shock to a lot of the population especially when he pointed to his wanting to eradicate vertical integration. He was quoted saying,” the vertical integration was not based on the free market principles at all.”
Vertical Integration
This term is common in the marijuana industry used to define businesses with numerous points in the supply chain. These points may include retail and cultivation. Smaller companies are able to participate, more products and more selection arising from phasing out vertically integrated marijuana licenses are good for the market.
The market should open to a point that all sellers can sell any marijuana product of their choice. This will be due to the abolishment of vertical integration. This is advantageous for patients mostly because of the few numbers of dispensaries currently in the state.
Jade Green, a marijuana industry consultant said,” Horizontal integration has been adopted by most of the marijuana states especially those who have recreational marijuana laws.” Horizontal integration is when marijuana sellers obtain a separate state license for each separate part of the business.
Licenses and Lawsuits in Florida
The Florida state began taking away already issued licenses from businesses and awarding them to other businesses. This made most of the victim businesses to file lawsuits against the state and some of them were successful in getting their license back.
The state’s government then separated the state into five districts and awarded the highest scoring marijuana license applicant in each district. Currently, there are 14 vertically integrated licenses in the state although only five of them were awarded their licenses according to the application’s score.
