MyFloridaGreen , a medical marijuana licensing facility with 40,000+ clients across Collier County, is now pushing for federal reforms following the defeat of Florida's proposed Amendment 3 . The company, which licenses and consults patients on medical marijuana, opposed the amendment on the grounds that it would have granted monopoly control to a single dispensary.
"That bill, in my opinion, was not a good one. We're not against recreational marijuana, but we were definitely against this particular bill ... It really empowered one dispensary to take over the whole state in a monopolistic manner," said Nicholas Garulay, the founder of MyFloridaGreen and TheDocApp .
Following Florida's recreational marijuana referendum, MyFloridaGreen has filed a brief with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) asking the United States government to shift medical marijuana policy. The company is one of 25 selected to present recommendations in Washington, D.C., with preliminary meetings set for December.
"We hope we can make a real change," said Garulay.
The Collier County company proposal aims to establish a "federally regulated framework" for medical marijuana, which includes a medical marijuana benefits card for veterans and qualifying patients. It also aims at breaking down monopolies, insures a variety of products are available for all patients, and discourages the use of a "threshold" for THC purchases.
"Our ultimate goal is to really try to ink a deal with the Veterans Affairs office, the VA, to try to pave the way for veterans. We have 7,500 veterans on our platform currently. We charge them once and never again. So we recertify the veterans for free," said Garulay.
For MyFloridaGreen, this push for reform is backed by years of aggregate and crowd-sourced data collection on the effectiveness of different marijuana strains and dosages for specific debilitating conditions or medications.
"We've been aggregating data for the past eight years ... We can tell you the strain and route that helps people with their conditions, crowd-sourced from feedback from other patients," said Garulay.
The company is also opening its app to all medical marijuana patients in Florida, a move Garulay believes will strengthen doctor-patient relationships across the state. Currently, MyFloridaGreen serves approximately 43,500 patients through its platform.