Is Dried Cannabis Flower Legal in Florida?
Updated 6/30/2019
Fortunately we have come a long way since I first wrote this post. Please see the this link for the current status of smokable cannabis in Florida.
Yes. Sort of. It’s complicated.
Everyday someone asks me about dried bud, “real marijuana,” or any other name one can call dried cannabis flower and the legal status here in Florida. At the time of the post two MMTCs - Trulieve and Curaleaf, offer dried flower products. The bud is housed in tamper proof containers often referred to as C-Cups as they closely resemble coffee K-Cup pods. These containers are meant to be vaporized in the compatible (and very expensive) devices sold by the corresponding MMTC.
Smoking or possession of dried flower outside of the sealed cups is a violation of the law as currently written.
What do you mean as currently written?
Let me back track and say I’m not a lawyer, so to be completely on the up and up it’s probably smart to check with one.
The sections of the law pertaining to right to smoke and possess flower are under challenge and is (slowly) moving through the judicial process. So far things have gone favorably for patients, but the cases have been appealed by Governor Rick Scott. The appeals essentially put the cases on hold until it shakes out through on going court proceedings. Until the cases move through, the appeals are dropped, or the law is otherwise changed, flower outside of these ‘tamper proof’ containers is unlawful for patients.
Information Current as of December 2, 2018
Where to Find Legal Medical Cannabis Flower in Florida
Trulieve
Trulieve was first to market with their TruPod Flower Cups, meant for use with the Trulieve Tabletop Vaporizer. TruFlower is offered in a variety of rotating strains including CBD and 1:1 options, but stock and availability varies often. TruFlower packages include 3 cups filled with approximately 3.5 grams total of cannabis flower. These cups are typically filled with packed cannabis buds and occasional shake. Potency varies by harvest, so each package is individually labelled to show the amount of active cannabinoids.
Price: $35-55 per 3.5 grams
Curaleaf
Curaleaf launched their version of flower cups shortly after Trulieve. The cups closely mimic Trulieve’s design. While patients reported favorable results when vaporizing Curaleaf cups, many patients were less than pleased with the appearance of what was inside - myself included. Early batches of Curaleaf flower were often filled with very dry shake, trim, and sometimes even cannabis dust, with very few to no popcorn sized buds. Thankfully, newer batches seem to have vastly improved. Patients are now reporting frosty popcorn and larger sized buds with very little shake. I recently tried the Taffie and First 48 cups. Taffie was packed with quality cannabis buds, but the First 48 cups were roughly 1/3 stem, leaf, and shake and a noticeably different quality. It seems like there are still some old batches floating around or quality is still a work in progress.
Price: $43-$53 per 3.5 grams
Device Options
Green Street Vapor Glass Wand Attachment
Green Street Vapor launched a relatively inexpensive glass wand attachment that allows patients to vaporize the cups without having to buy an expensive MMTC device, break them open, or ‘accidentally’ drop them. GSV’s glass wand attachment is compatible with some of the most common vaporizers on the market making it a versatile and great entry level vaporizing option. It’s the number one choice for patients who want to medicate with legal flower without the hassle of breaking the cups or the law.
Price: $59.95 + desktop vaporizer unit
Trulieve Table Top Vaporizer
I haven’t personally tried the Trulieve Table Top Vaporizer, but at the price of $750 I’m not sure many people have. I dropped a video explaining the unit in case you are interested, but it’s pretty clear very few patients are using this device.
Price: $750
Curaleaf Tabletop Vaporizer
When Curaleaf first announced their device it appeared to be a real Volcano and a great price point. Unfortunately this didn’t pan out and while it’s a better price than Trulieve’s unit, you’re better off investing in an authentic Volcano or entry level device like Da Buddha and Green Street Vapors wand attachment.
Price: $475
A Note About Where We Are:
For anyone familiar with ‘normal’ cannabis, Florida law surrounding dried cannabis flower can be extremely frustrating. Medicinally flower is far superior than the majority of extracts and very much an area of true medical need for patients. I have a lot of criticisms of Florida MMTC’s, but Trulieve and Curaleaf’s willingness to push the envelope to bring flower to Florida patients deserves recognition. No other sealed vessel for cannabis flower is required elsewhere, so they were forced to create a way to bring it to the market. Both Trulieve and Curaleaf offered cannabis ‘dust’ in small little bullet pods prior to the C-Cup style and they were outright awful. Trulieve’s C-Cup was ground breaking for patients and very much changed the landscape of what is available to us now and the upcoming future. I much prefer to nix the cup all together, but it’s important to remember that the current offerings are leaps and bounds ahead of where we were less than a year ago. I’m appreciative for the progress forward given the current limits of the law.