Upon arriving in Tallahassee you can sense a type of new freshness in the air. There is a hustle and bustle as the city prepared for the inauguration of our new governor Ron DeSantis. They even changed the name of the street in front of the Capitol building (Monroe St) to Ron DeSantis Way for the day.

My first order of business was at the Capitol building observing the Criminal Justice Committee. I was tasked with taking notes as about ways the proposed changes in the law would directly or indirectly effect cannabis. At the end of each day we have a discussion with leadership team members to debrief on what we learned around the Capitol.

The evening was fun filled as I met up with Jodi James and Ethel Roland. We shared a home cooked meal of chicken soup and discussed current cannabis topics, products, and of course, legislative and lobbying strategies. The product testing part is always my favorite. “Ya gotta love your job”… As Jodi would say.

Well the next morning it was back to business as we rallied at Florida’s First District Court of Appeals to show our support for access to smokable cannabis and our past president, Cathy Jordan. The Florida Health Department is seeking to overturn Judge Gievers decision that the smoking of medical marijuana is a constitutionally protected route of administration. I believe our attorney John Mills representation was well perceived by the three panel of judges. #nosmokeisajoke. Cathy wasn’t able to attend due to her health, but many of her closest friends attended in her stead.

Following court we met up with with an industry friend of mine for lunch at the Bada Bean where we kicked around thoughts and ideas gathering perspective from an industry worker’s point of view.

Then it was back off to the Capitol to speak with members of the Florida House and Senate. We talked to old friends, shook hands with returning members and there were many new faces to identify and ears to bend.

The best part of the day was meeting with Nikki Fried, our new Agriculture Commissioner to learn her plans for the future of cannabis/hemp in Florida. Not to mention the Fresh from Florida food was great. I never knew that the Florida Department of Agriculture had their own chef!

Thank you Jodi, Ethel and the whole Florida Cannabis Action Network Crew for all that you do in advocating and lobbying for safe access to cannabis. Learning to advocate for cannabis, to understand the process in Tallahassee and becoming comfortable speaking to lawmakers about changing the law is invaluable.

Brian Vitale is a patient advocate from the Pan Handle who joined FLCAN’s leadership team in 2018.