It's been four years since Floridians voted to legalize medical marijuana and one year since the state legislature allowed people to smoke it.
Now, medical marijuana edibles will soon be available for patients.
The Florida Department of Health Wednesday night quietly published emergency rules regarding the production, sale and marketing of edible medical marijuana.
Florida's chief medical marijuana regulator Christian Bax told the Miami Herald that variances could be issued to medical marijuana treatment centers as early as this week. That means products could be available soon after that.
In the emergency rules, the health department lays out the details for how the edibles must be shaped, colored and in what form. They can be lozenges, gelatins, baked goods, chocolates and drink powders.
Edibles can come in different shapes, but they cannot "bear a resemblance to commercially available candy," they can't have sprinkles or icing and they can't be a primary or bright color that could be attractive to children.
The products also can't have meat, poultry or fish ingredients.
Florida's marijuana companies will also have to obtain an annual food permit under the current state statute.
Companies have been preparing for this for a while, and some have already partnered with others around the country to produce and sell products already popular in other markets.
Trulieve, Florida's largest medical marijuana company, announced it had already built a 10,000-square-foot commercial-grade kitchen in Quincy to create products and test them. The company also partnered with Binske, District Edibles and Love's Oven to expand offerings.
"Similar to what we saw when flower was introduced in 2019, we expect that edibles will contribute to a sizable share of overall sales," Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said in a release. "We know the demand is there, as we have been hearing from our customers for some time now."
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