What Definitions will be used for Medical Marijuana Use in a Proposed Chapter 893 Statute if Florida Legalizes Medical Marijuana? - Part 2

Definitions for a Proposed 

Medical Marijuana

Chapter 893 Statute

What if Florida Legalizes Medical Marijuana - Definitions for a Proposed Chapter 893 Statute - Part 2

This series of posts continues to explore how Marijuana Laws in the Florida Statutes might be changed should the voters, the courts, and/or the legislature be so inclined. Here are some definitions that will be addressed in the proposed language of the law:

How will Medical Use be defined under the Florida Medical Marijuana Statute?

For purposes of this statute, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) “Attending physician” means an individual who possesses a license in good standing to practice medicine or osteopathy issued by the Medical Board of Florida or the Osteopathic Medical Board of Florida and who has taken responsibility for an aspect of the medical care, treatment, diagnosis, counseling, or referral of a patient and who has conducted a medical examination of that patient before recording in the patient’s medical record the physician’s assessment of whether the patient has a serious medical condition and whether the medical use of marijuana is appropriate.

(b) “Department” means the Florida Department of Health .

(c) “Person with an identification card” means an individual who is a qualified patient who has applied for and received a valid identification card pursuant to this statute.

(d) “Primary caregiver” means the individual, designated by a qualified patient or by a person with an identification card, who has consistently assumed responsibility for the housing, health, or safety of that patient or person, and may include any of the following:

(1) In any case in which a qualified patient or person with an identification card receives medical care or supportive services, or both, from a clinic,  a health care facility, a residential care facility for persons with chronic life-threatening illness, a residential care facility for the elderly, a hospice, or a home health agency, the owner or operator, or no more than three employees who are designated by the owner or operator, of the clinic, facility, hospice, or home health agency, if designated as a primary caregiver by that qualified patient or person with an identification card.

(2) An individual who has been designated as a primary caregiver by more than one qualified patient or person with an identification card, if every qualified patient or person with an identification card who has designated that individual as a primary caregiver resides in the same city or county as the primary caregiver.

(3) An individual who has been designated as a primary caregiver by a qualified patient or person with an identification card who resides in a city or county other than that of the primary caregiver, if the individual has not been designated as a primary caregiver by any other qualified patient or person with an identification card.

(e) A primary caregiver shall be at least 18 years of age, unless the primary caregiver is the parent of a minor child who is a qualified patient or a person with an identification card or the primary caregiver is a person otherwise entitled to make medical decisions under state law.

(f) “Qualified patient” means a person who is entitled to the protections of Chapter 893, but who does not have an identification card issued pursuant to this statute.

(g) “Identification card” means a document issued by the State Department of Health that document identifies a person authorized to engage in the medical use of marijuana and the person’s designated primary caregiver, if any.

(h) “Serious medical condition” means all of the following medical conditions:

(1) Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

(2) Anorexia.

(3) Arthritis.

(4) Cachexia.

(5) Cancer.

(6) Chronic pain.

(7) Glaucoma.

(8) Migraine.

(9) Persistent muscle spasms, including, but not limited to, spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

(10) Seizures, including, but not limited to, seizures associated with epilepsy.

(11) Severe nausea.

(12) Any other chronic or persistent medical symptom that either:

(A) Substantially limits the ability of the person to conduct one or more major life activities as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-336).

(B) If not alleviated, may cause serious harm to the patient’s safety or physical or mental health.

(i) “Written documentation” means accurate reproductions of those portions of a patient’s medical records that have been created by the attending physician  and that the patient may submit to a county health department or the county’s designee as part of an application for an identification card.

In the next installment - How will Medical Marijuana Cards be Issued?

Previously, we discussed :

What if Florida Legalizes Medical Marijuana - a Proposed Chapter 893 Statute - Part 1