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Ron Watson

For Charlotte’s Web hopefuls, the scramble is on ahead of DOH license deadline

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The mood tonight is like an undergraduate’s finals week for a gaggle of commercial farmers hoping to grow the low-THC cannabis product Charlotte’s Web.  Wednesday at 5 p.m. marks the deadline to submit applications for the first-ever legal licenses to grow marijuana in Florida. A spokeswoman for the Department of Health — which houses the Office of Compassionate Use, the agency in charge of implementing a 2014 state law authorizing use of the drug to treat certain chronic or terminal conditions —…

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Epilogue: Lawmakers hit new low in number of bills passed

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Friday morning lobbyist Ron Watson was preparing reports for clients whose interests he represents before the Florida Legislature. The curtains close officially on the 2015 regular session Friday, but for all intents and purposes, it ended Tuesday with the House and Senate exchanging insults and the House adjourning with no state budget in place for the fiscal year beginning in July. “In the latest episode of As Tallahassee Turns,” Watson joked, citing the opening line of the dispatch he’s sending clients.…

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Medical marijuana advocates disappointed, looking to 2016

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Medical marijuana advocates are now looking to 2016. One of the casualties of the budget debate raging between the House and Senate is a glitch bill for last year’s Charlotte’s Web law. SPB 7066 died when the House unexpectedly adjourned the 2015 session three days early. “I have never seen more lobbyists with their mouths literally drop (open) and I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” Ron Watson said. Watson works health issues and focused this year on the glitch…

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‘Momma bears’ roam the Florida Capitol searching for medical marijuana for their cubs

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Momma bears. It’s taking the momma bears to end the reefer madness. Paige Figi, Holley Moseley and Dawn Wein are among a group of women who worked the Florida Capitol the past year persuading, pressuring and pleading with lawmakers to lift a prohibition on medical marijuana and authorize the use of cannabis products they say will ease their children’s suffering and, in some cases, potentially save lives. When they showed up at the Capitol it was to put an exclamation point on the generation-long…

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Capitol Preview: Money, press skits and the search for clarity

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This week politics at the state Capitol will be about money and a search for clarity. Legislators will get a better view of the hill they need to climb in building a state budget for the year beginning July 1. The Revenue Estimating Conference meets Tuesday and will count up how much tax money the state has collected so far and project how much more money will roll in by the end of June. These are the numbers lawmakers will use when…

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