–Illegal Weed, Hemp, and Spice: Where will MMJ Patients Turn?–

— Ybor Hemp Dispensary is Concerned Customers Might Turn to Illegal Spice–

Ybor City, Florida –December 20th 2021 —  Due to high medical marijuana costs many patients have been seeking alternatives. Unfortunately, some alternatives are safer than others. There has been a recent surge in medical injuries and even some deaths has been the result of medical cannabis patients turning to spice, or K2, due to high medical marijuana costs. What these people didn’t know is they could have tried legal hemp and found relief very similar to medical cannabis! However, Florida’s legislature might make that illegal too, due to a new bill that could pass this coming legislative session, HB 679, which aims to reform both cannabis and hemp in  the state of Florida!

Florida has had a long-standing history with weird and freaky people doing weird and freaky drugs.  I mean… Florida is the home of “the bath salt cannibal”!

One drug issue Florida has been undergoing, especially lately, is with the drug Spice, or K2. Florida Poison Control has reported that there have been 2 deaths and dozens of people have been hospitalized for severe bleeding after using ‘spice’ in Hillsborough County, Florida. A recent report by Tampa Bay’s Fox 13 suggests that medical marijuana patients might be turning to spice due to high costs of the medical marijuana program.

Many medical marijuana patients also turn to a safer alternative to spice called Hemp. Hemp is legal in all 50 states and doesn’t cause the harmful side effects that spice does, cause hemp represents chemicals that come naturally from the cannabis plant. Some of you may be familiar with hemp because of CBD products, but recently products that contain Delta 8 THC, an isomer of Delta-9 THC, and even some edible products with Delta 9 THC, have been all the rage in stores like Chillum Hemp Dispensary in Ybor City.

“Many of my customers shop here because they can’t afford medical marijuana”, said Carlos Hermida, owner Chillum Hemp Dispensary, “Some of them can’t even afford to see the doctor for their card!”

However, Florida’s legislature is trying to make that illegal too, which could force those Floridians finding relief from Hemp to spice or maybe even more dangerous drugs. A bill could pass this coming legislative session that would reform our states cannabis system but could make Delta-8 THC products a thing of the past for Floridians!

“If we get rid of the legal Hemp derived THC, we could see people turn to spice.”, Carlos Hermida, “It isn’t like people are just going to deal with their illnesses. They are going to self-medicate. I would hate to see them turn to more harmful drugs!”

HB 679, sponsored by Reps. Andrew Learned, D-Brandon, and Spencer Roach, R-North Fort Myers, would further regulate both hemp and cannabis in Florida. It would regulate hemp by making the sale of hemp products for people 21 and up, force hemp manufacturers to register their products with the Department of Agriculture and could possibly get rid of Delta 8 THC entirely.