Florida Medical Cannabis Collective: One Year Anniversary – 2018-2019, Then & Now

It’s almost hard for me to believe as I type this: the Florida Medical Cannabis Collective has been around for a full year today. Our first post was a review of Sour Diesel TruFlower Cups, but here we are – dozens of reviews and industry updates later.

The industry has changed rapidly, and is completely different and more evolved than it was when this project started. Full flower sales started earlier this year, many Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs) have released several new products and forms of cannabis concentrate, and there are thousands upon thousands of new patients.

I’d like to take a moment to thank all of you who regularly read and give feedback to all the content here. Seeing all of your success stories and the ways that the Collective has helped you all as cannabis patients, has been the single most fulfilling aspect of this entire project, and is one of many sources of inspiration that I draw from as I sit down to write each new piece of content.

In celebration of our first full year together, I’ll do a few comparisons of the Florida medical cannabis industry now to what it was 1 year ago today.

	December 2018	December 2019
Qualified Patients (Active ID card)	156,408	289,285
Total Patients (Including expired ID cards)	198,461	410,344
Qualified Physicians	1,865	2,594
Total Number of Dispensaries in Florida	77	205
Milligrams of Medical Marijuana (High-THC) Dispensed (During the week prior, per latest OMMU Update)	52,348,556	76,422,435
Milligrams of Low-THC Marijuana (High-CBD) Dispensed (During the week prior, per latest OMMU Update)	2,081,837	2,000,974

These numbers tell a few interesting stories. The most obvious is that the program is growing: particularly the total number of patients in the state registry. What is interesting about this is, however, is that the gap between qualified patients and total patients continues to increase, most likely due to the high costs of maintaining an ID card and the prices of the products themselves. Social media indicates that a lot of patients are heading back to the black market due to not being able to afford all the costs that being a legal cannabis patient in Florida incurs.

The number of qualified physicians has grown at a steady rate, and there is roughly one qualified physician for every 112 patients in the program, which isn’t too much of a stretch.

The number of dispensaries throughout the state has nearly tripled, with most of the growth in coastal areas in the central and southern parts of the state. The panhandle continues to have the least variety in this area, with many MMTCs still not serving that part of the state. Overall, however, access has improved throughout the state this year. If patients were divided evenly amongst the 205 dispensaries in Florida, each dispensary would serve roughly 1,411 patients.

What I found to be perhaps the most surprising from the table above, is that there was less CBD dispensed than this time last year. I attribute part of this to the fact that the Farm Bill passed last year, and hemp-based CBD products are much more readily available to order online, often at a far lower cost than the CBD products offered in Florida dispensaries.

Industry Evolution 2018 -2019

The information we’ve reviewed so far indicates that, as expected, Florida’s medical marijuana industry grew significantly last year. But how did it grow? What changed? What products became available since last year?

Full Flower Legalization

Perhaps the most monumental catalyst for growth of Florida’s medical industry in 2019 was the passage of Senate Bill 182 in the early months of 2019, which allowed MMTCs to sell loose cannabis flower in a form designed for smoking – the way nearly a majority of us medicate. I predicted this change would occur in this article I wrote on January 1 of this year. John Morgan’s lawsuit against the state was in full swing at that time, and Governor DeSantis was just a couple of weeks away from announcing the March deadline he would give the legislature to draft legislation allowing for smokable marijuana – which ultimately led to the existence of SB 182 in the first place.

As of the time of writing this article, every single MMTC in Florida now offers a smokable flower product. One year ago, only Trulieve and Curaleaf offered flower in their vaporizer cups, which were intended to be vaporized in proprietary Volcano-like products (though most of us just found a way to get the flower out of the cups and either vape or smoke it rather than pay $500+ for the intended device.)

Flower prices have also generally come down since last year – most of Trulieve’s flower strains were $55 back then, whereas a majority of them now are in their $43 tier now.

More Variety of Concentrates

One year ago, just about the only concentrate product one could find in Florida was distillate. Trulieve had released shatter a few months back, and MUV had just dropped both shatter and crumble. Other than that, however, choices were limited to distillate or vape carts for many patients.

In the year since then, we now have distillate, shatter, crumble, rosin, RSO, terp sauce, soft wax, and (perhaps arguably) live resin carts. MUV has been the state’s leader in new forms of concentrates, and has most all of the above forms of concentrate available at their dispensaries. Trulieve and Curaleaf also offer most of these forms, and even Surterra (who previously was hesitant to embrace flower and full-spectrum products) has jumped into the concentrate market with a recent release of shatter and soft wax products. Almost every MMTC offers distillate, and more say they plan to have shatter, crumble, and wax products by the beginning of 2020.

Closing Thoughts

From December 2, 2018 to December 2, 2019 – Florida’s medical cannabis industry has evolved to more resemble the well-developed markets in other legal states. Though the way our laws are written have provided many challenges: product availability and high prices to name a couple – conditions continue to steadily improve with respect to access and affordability.

One year ago, I never imagined that every single MMTC would offer a flower product; a few MMTCs had gained a little notoriety last year for taking stances in opposition to allowing full flower sales. One year later, all of them have embraced what patients ultimately wanted from the start – a variety of products, and the ability to purchase cannabis in its most natural full-flower form.

It is my belief that the industry will continue with this steady growth throughout 2020. Though House Representative Ray Rodrigues plans to fight against our medicine again during the 2020 legislative session – namely by his attempts to impose a 10% THC limit on all cannabis flower in product as he did at the beginning of this year – I have a feeling that the MMTCs and the will of our hundreds of thousands of patients will not allow that to happen; what is truly righteous and just will prevail, just as it did this year when we were finally granted the ability to purchase whole flower. The Florida Medical Cannabis Collective will surely be using this site and our social media reach to help fight against the misinformation campaigns that Ray and his allies are sure to use against us – and we will absolutely win.

2019 has been a great year for all of us, and 2020 stands to be even better. Whatever happens, be assured that we at the Collective will be here for you through it all. We look forward to another great year together, and again, we thank you all for your continued love and support.

May you all be blessed with peace, love, wealth, health, wisdom, prosperity, and happiness.

Be sure to join our email subscriber list and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date with all the latest in the Florida medical cannabis industry! Don’t forget to join our email subscriber list as well; this will ensure that you stay up-to-date will all develops in the Collective and the Florida medical cannabis industry! You can find a quick-subscribe button in the righthand column on this site.

Florida Medical Cannabis Collective: 03.13.2019 Update – SB182 Passes Florida House, Florida’s Faulted 15

Good evening (or morning, afternoon, night) to all of you! Today, March 13 2019, has been another monumental day in the history of the Florida cannabis industry. This afternoon, the Florida House of Representatives voted 101-11 in favor of passing Senate Bill 182 (SB 182), a measure to legalize smokable cannabis and raw cannabis flower sales for medical cannabis patients in Florida. This means that both the Senate and House passed SB 182 – the Senate did so last Thursday as the bill passed 34-4.

The next (and final) step is for Governor Ron Desantis to sign SB182 into law, and the current speculation is that he will do so rather quickly. We may see the bill signed as early as tomorrow, or on Friday, March 15 – the original deadline that the Governor set for the Florida Legislature to pass a bill such as SB 182.

SB 182 Recap

Smoking route can be ordered up to six 35-day supplies (equivalent to the current standard of three 70-day supplies for every other route of administration)
Each 35-day supply allows up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis flower for each patient, or a half ounce of flower per week. There can be special exceptions made through the Department of Health, as there are already exceptions for the other routes.
Patients can carry up to four ounces of marijuana flower on their person
Marijuana flower can be sold in many forms – not restricted to prerolled joints
Medical marijuana delivery devices intended for smoking need not be purchased from a dispensary. Unfortunately, this does not apply for vaporization devices; apparently this was a compromise that the House demanded. I personally expect this to be disputed in some way through time. It makes absolutely zero sense, given that the same legislature fought against smoking for so long. Why “open the floodgates” for smoking paraphernalia, but not allow it for vaporization devices? What is the “boogeyman” here?
Patients under 18 may not smoke cannabis, unless they have a terminal illness and are signed off by a second doctor under similar conditions to the current “Right to Try” act.

Significant changes on the horizon for Florida cannabis patients

This is great news for us, the patients. Say goodbye to the tedious ceramic pods, and the days of only select MMTCs offering flower. We will soon be able to buy cannabis flower that we can actually see in the dispensary, just like almost every other state that has legalized cannabis for medicinal and/or recreational purposes. Forget the days of feeling like a criminal because you chose to take your medication via the route that works the best for you, if smoking is your choice route of administration. And eventually, as more competition will inevitably enter the flower market – say goodbye to $55 being the standard price for an eighth of medicinal cannabis in Florida.

The biggest question for most of us is when we will be able to walk into our dispensary of choice and purchase raw flower. This is purely speculation now as many of us are unsure how far the dispensaries have gotten with any prior approval for containers to house smokable cannabis, how long it will take for industry standards and regulations to be set, how long it takes the various Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers to roll out products that comply with those standards, and a host of other variables. Various social media shows patients speculating anywhere from next week to the end of 2019 before we are able to purchase raw flower. My personal estimate would place this time somewhere between mid July and mid August, but only time and developments to this story will truly reveal the answer. One thing is for certain: things are about to get much better for us.

Florida’s Faulted 15

Unfortunately, every success story must have its antagonists. If we total the 112 members of the House of Representatives and the 38 members of the Senate who voted for (or against) SB182, we total 150 voting members. Of those 150: a total of 15, or 10 percent, voted against the bill; all things considered, we can only summarize this as a vote against the patients of Florida from the 15 who chose to vote “nay”.

Since 2016, we have made it very clear that nearly 3/4 (or more!) of voting citizens in Florida feel that cannabis should be legalized for medical purposes – fully. Attorney John Morgan has led a valiant movement in support of our right to smoke our cannabis as it was originally intended in the constitutional amendment, and many politicians have finally seen and agreed with what should be common sense: cannabis is medicine, and Floridians have a right to use it instead of toxic chemicals/pharmaceuticals. Yet, 15 of the individuals we elected to represent us chose to go completely against our right to fully choose how we administrate our medication.

At the Collective, we believe in the power of the people through knowledge and education, so we’re sharing the 15 individuals we’ve chosen to label as Florida’s Faulted 15. We chose this title because their votes against SB182 alone do not determine that they are unethical, immoral, or “evil” people, but they are surely faulted for their actions of ignorance and/or intolerance.

Senate

Keith Perry, R – Gainesville

Doug Broxson, R – Gulf Breeze

George Gainer, R – Panama City

Ed Hooper, R – Clearwater

House

Thad Altman, R – Rockledge

Mike Belran, R – Lithia

Chuck Clemons, R – Newberry

Jason Fischer, R – Jacksonville

Clay Yarborough, R – Jacksonville

Erin Grall, R – Vero Beach

Mike Hill, R – Pensacola

Mel Ponder, R – Destin

Ardian Zika, R – Land o’ Lakes

Jackie Toledo, R – Tampa

James Bush III, D – Miami

If these politicians voted against your interests, be sure you help spread awareness with those who share your beliefs, and ensure that these officials don’t get re-elected in 2020. They have no right to dictate what is or isn’t our medicine – that’s up to us and our doctors.

Closing Thoughts

As we’ve been saying since the first weekly update on January 1 of this year, 2019 is a significant year for the history and development of Florida’s cannabis industry. We are experiencing the last days of the industry as it has been since 2017. Here at the Collective, we eagerly anticipate the next phase of evolution for our industry, and today was a major catalyst in setting off that evolution. As soon as Governor Desantis signs SB182, it effectively becomes law; after that, this cannabis journey in Florida is about to pick up a lot of speed. We hope you’re as ready as we are for this very positive step forward!

GrowHealthy “Mind” Distillate Review: Strawberry Haze (Sativa)

Strawberry Haze is one of several sativa strains available in GrowHealthy’s distillate. The flower form of this strain is known for its sweet strawberry smell/taste and its strong cerebral effects. I picked up a half gram syringe of this strain along with Sour Tangie and Bubba Kush in my last delivery order. This is definitely a stimulating strain, in classic sativa fashion, and it seems to be a more potent/pure sativa than the other “Mind” distillates I’ve picked up from GrowHealthy.

Quick Facts:

Strawberry Haze Distillate (Sativa)

Parent Strains: Northern Lights # 5 x Haze x Kali Mist x Swiss Sativa

THC: 82.78%

CBD: 0.003%

Total Cannabinoids: 82.783%

Batch Number: ID44 SBHZ

Other Ingredients: Cannabis Terpenes

As with my other reviews, I rate this product on three main criteria. Those three scores will be averaged for a final “overall score” and basic description of the product quality.

Taste

Of all the distillates I’ve tried from GrowHealthy, I found Strawberry Haze to be the most lacking in taste. Sour Tangie and Birds of Paradise both had strong and notable pleasant tastes: tropical fruit with the Birds of Paradise, and tangerine/diesel with the Sour Tangie. Unfortunately, Strawberry Haze tastes nothing like the Leafly page describes it. There is a bit of an earthy/fresh taste (very subtle), and not much else. With the cannabis terpenes, there is a taste that is reminiscent of cannabis, which would be the major positive I could attribute to this strain. Based on taste alone, I probably wouldn’t order Strawberry Haze again.

Taste Rating: 3.40/5.00

Vapor/Product Quality

Strawberry Haze distillate comes in the same syringe that all other distillates I’ve tried, with an easily removable rubber cap on the bottom, allowing for easy filling of a VFire pod or your empty cartridge of choice.

The distillate itself is about as thick, perhaps a bit thicker, than Truclear. It vaporizes well, leaving the flavor pretty well intact all the way through to the exhale. It seems like everything about this product is at least fairly good quality.

Vapor/Product Quality Rating: 4.00/5.00

Effects

Strawberry Haze is the most stimulating “Mind” (sativa) I’ve gotten from GrowHealthy. It definitely fosters a creative and motivated energy; my mind feels like it has laser focus as I type each sentence of this review. My depression is greatly suppressed, and since I have a great deal of experience with THC, my anxiety is not running away either. I could see this strain causing some sativa-induced anxiety in novice users, so be cautious with this strain if you have a low tolerance.

There really aren’t many body effects to speak of with Strawberry Haze. Where Birds of Paradise and Sour Tangie seemed like 80/20% sativa-dominant hybrids, Strawberry Haze feels more like 90-100% sativa. For patients who prefer energetic and completely cerebral strains, this is a good choice. Based on the effects, I may order Strawberry Haze in the future.

Effects Rating: 4.00/5.00

Overall Rating: 3.80/5.00

GrowHealthy definitely has the best distillates, at least of all the different ones that I’ve tried. Though Strawberry Haze is not at all a strain I would call “tasty” in this distillate form, the effects make up for it enough that I am considering picking it up again in the future. I do prefer both Birds of Paradise and Sour Tangie to Strawberry Haze, as far as GrowHealthy’s sativa strains are concerned. I would best describe this as an “overall good product” useful for treating depression, ADD, and other similar mental symptoms.

To be clear: If taste is a major deciding factor for your enjoyment of cannabis products, skip this one. If you’re looking for relief over everything else, and you prefer sativa strains to get that relief, then Strawberry Haze distillate from GrowHealthy is an excellent choice.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this review. Truly hope it helps you – we are here for you!

Florida Medical Cannabis Collective: 02.23.2019 Update

Hello there, and welcome (or welcome back) to the site for another update! I’d like to take the beginning of this update to thank all of our subscribers and followers – you guys are really starting to grow in numbers, and we really appreciate all the support and feedback you’ve given us across the board on various social media. It’s really amazing to know that we’re making a positive impact for so many of you. We will be here to help guide you through the waters of this industry as it continues to gain momentum and growth through 2019.

We’ve had another eventful week as we near the end of February. Both the Florida Senate and House have their respective bills to set guidelines for smokable cannabis in Florida; the two versions are getting closer together and will hopefully be able to set up a good foundation for patients who have been eagerly awaiting smokable medical marijuana.

As is almost always the case, some new products became available this week as well, so we will touch on those a bit in this update too!

Smokable Cannabis soon to be reality in Florida

Perhaps the biggest news story of this week is that the Senate and House both passed bills to set the framework for smokable medical cannabis in Florida. We’ll save all the legal jargon and provide you with the highlights of each bill.

Senate Bill 182

Allows for whole cannabis flower sales
Smokable marijuana available in many forms, but each MMTC must make pre-rolled joints one of those forms
Patients under 18 must have two doctors sign off to allow them to smoke medical cannabis
Patients can acquire smoking devices such as bongs, pipes, and rolling papers from vendors other than dispensaries. This does not apply to devices used for vaporizing medical marijuana – they must be bought from the dispensary only.
Between the house and senate bills, this is the one we want to pass

House Bill 7015

Only allows smokable medical cannabis to be sold in pre-rolled joints. No pipes, rolling papers, bongs, or any other smoking devices to be sold in dispensaries.
Patients under 18 cannot use smokable marijuana under any circumstances.

Obviously, the senate bill is much closer to what most of us envisioned for our medical marijuana program in Florida. As we near the March 15 deadline, we should see the two legislative branches come closer to a compromise – hopefully much closer to the Senate’s version of the bill.

TruCRMBL Reception and new Trulieve Products

The big story in our last update was the launch of Trulieve’s newest cannabis concentrate – cannabis crumble, or TruCRMBL. You can read all about that update here. Note of interest – we correctly predicted nearly all of the actual strains that were released! We just missed Strawberry Switchblade and the new Lemon OG strain.

From what we’ve seen on Reddit and Instagram, TruCRMBL has hailed widespread positive reviews. Patients raved about the excellent smell/taste – very close to the flower form of most every strain – and the effects, which most everyone agreed are closer to true cannabis flower than any other concentrate. You can check out our review of TruCRMBL here – it was thoroughly enjoyed, and we will definitely be back to try the other strains soon.

New Product: Orange Cookies 5:3 CBD:THC Vape Cart

Trulieve released yet another new product this week – a new ratio vape cart with a 5:3 CBD:THC ratio. This product may be a good choice for patients who want more CBD than a 1:1, but still want to feel the effects of THC. The vape cart is currently available in a 600mg ceramic tip for $74; the strain is Orange Cookies. You can order the vape cart here.

Trulieve also released a few new flower strains: Poison Fruit, Bubble Gum, and Lemon OG. You can find those on Trulieve’s flower page here.

Patients be wary – we’ve heard a couple of disappointing reviews on Bubble Gum, with many saying the flower is over-dried and stripped of any noticeable smell/taste. However, we haven’t heard those complaints about Lemon OG or Poison Fruit – and some people like for their cannabis to be extremely dry (though we aren’t one of them!); just keep this in mind as you place your next orders, as we know it already hurts enough to endure the premium prices we have to pay.

We will have several new product reviews on the way in the coming weeks as always, so be sure to look for those as we move into the month of March!

Closing Thoughts

The fact that we are getting closer to smokable cannabis in Florida is exciting, though we really hope the current House bill is not the one that’s implemented. However, we feel confident that the final law that is eventually passed will allow for full flower sales – there’s simply too much push for it, especially with Nikki Fried as our Agriculture Commissioner and the newly appointed Director of Cannabis for Florida.

We’ve been saying it over and over again – this is a good year for Florida Cannabis. With the Florida Medical Cannabis Conference currently underway in Orlando, we expect our next update will be full of new developments for the industry. Be sure to stay tuned to this site and our various social media accounts, and thanks for all of your support. We are (slowly) getting to where we want to be with our medical marijuana program!

Be sure to join our email subscriber list and follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up-to-date with all the latest in the Florida medical cannabis industry! You can find a quick-subscribe button in the righthand column on this site. Thank you for taking the time to read; we genuinely hope you find this site beneficial to helping you as a patient.

Trulieve Flower Review: Puck Yeah (Indica)

Last week, Trulieve dropped two new indica strains along with the announcement of TruCRMBL – Northern Hash Plant and Puck Yeah. Both have relatively little information about them available online, so I’ve really only had personal experience to go by when reviewing this strain.

Puck Yeah is definitely a heavier indica, with prominent body effects, much like Northern Hash Plant. The batch I got also happens to be the best overall quality flower I’ve gotten from Trulieve.

Quick Facts:

Puck Yeah (Indica)

Parent Strains: The Puck x Northern Lights

Batch/Harvest Number: FFOBTRUXNP000001 (that’s an “O” at the beginning and zeroes at the end)

745.5 mg THC/3.5g

0.0 mg CBD/3.5g

21.3% THC

0.00% CBD

1.20% CBG

22.5% Total Cannabinoids

Appearance/Feel

Trulieve: Puck Yeah from FLMedicalTrees

The quality of curing has been hit or miss in recent batches of TruFlower. However, Trulieve completely knocked it out of the park with this batch of Puck Yeah. This is absolutely the stickiest flower I’ve yet to get from Florida’s legal market – so much that the contents of all 3 ceramic pods retained their shape, as you can see in the image above. The flower consists of many shades of green and yellow, with one or two specks of purple, all covered in dark amber and burnt orange pistils. This flower is also covered in trichomes, which can be seen sparkling all over and inside the bud when held to a flashlight. If Trulieve could find a way to get every single batch of every strain to be the same quality as this batch of Puck Yeah, I truly believe that they would dominate the Florida flower market. This cure was incredible; hopefully it is a sign of things to come as the market expands.

Appearance Rating: 4.50/5.00

Smell/Taste

Puck Yeah has a very heavy, musky, sour cannabis smell that reminds me a bit of another indica strain I recently picked up from Trulieve: Crescendo. This is a very pungent and “loud” flower that will smell up your entire living space if you leave the jar open.

When vaporized, some of the more familiar citrusy cannabis terpenes are more notable – not so much when smelling the bud in the jar. The most dominant taste would have to be the musky, dank cannabis taste – followed by the citrus notes. Puck Yeah is a strong strain that tastes really good when vaporized.

Smell/Taste Rating: 3.90/5.00

Effects/Medical Use

Where Northern Hash Plant immediately hit my body with heavy indica effects, Puck Yeah is more of a subtle “creeper”. At first, the effects are more cerebral and relaxed, probably for about the first 30-45 minutes after medicating. After that point, the body effects became much more prominent, and I became gradually more and more sleepy. In high doses, Puck Yeah is a great choice for insomnia. It’s a bit too heavy for daytime use in my opinion; this is strictly a strain I will use for late night relaxation and sleep. Overall, I’d say this is one of the most heavy indica flower strains I’ve tried, though I think Northern Hash Plant is a bit more of a “pure” indica with its effects.

I definitely noticed the higher THC content on this strain. When smoked, it only took one hit to start feeling the effects.

Possibly good for treating:

Anxiety
Moderate aches and pains
Moderate nausea/gastrointestinal issues
General Relaxation
Insomnia (especially in higher doses)

I’m definitely no medical doctor, so please take the preceding conditions only as my own personal observations from using this strain and having experience with a multitude of different cannabis strains. Every body is different, and every body reacts different to various medications.

Effects Rating: 3.80/5.00

Overall Rating: 4.07/5.00

Overall, I would best describe Puck Yeah as “an excellent strain for evening and nighttime medication”.

Puck Yeah and Northern Hash Plant are definitely two of the heaviest indica strains I’ve gotten in the Florida medical cannabis program. Though I wish the price would come down – $55 an eighth is way too steep – Trulieve absolutely knocked it out of the park with growing and curing this strain. Hopefully it will come back around in the future: I would definitely recommend this product based on the quality of the grow alone. Hope the next batch is consistent (or better)!

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this review. Truly hope it helps you – we are here for you!

GrowHealthy “Body” Distillate Review: Bubba Kush (Indica)

Bubba Kush is a strain that is well known for its “tranquilizing effects” (per Leafly), giving it great potential benefit for patients suffering from insomnia and pain. This particular distillate from GrowHealthy has received a lot of praise on the various Florida Trees subreddits over the past few months for its taste and potent effects. I grabbed a half gram syringe of Bubba Kush with my last delivery order, and it has definitely lived up to the hype in my experience. If you’re looking for an absolute knockout indica strain distillate that has potent effects on the body, this is the one to get.

Quick Facts:

Bubba Kush Distillate (Indica)

Parent Strains: OG Kush x Unknown strain from New Orleans

THC: 79.05%

CBD: 0.40%

Total Cannabinoids: 79.45%

Batch Number: ID35 BODY BUBBA KUSH

Other Ingredients: Cannabis Terpenes

As with my other reviews, I rate this product on three main criteria. Those three scores will be averaged for a final “overall score” and basic description of the product quality.

Taste

This Bubba Kush distillate probably tastes more like vaporized cannabis flower than any other distillate strain I’ve tried. The cannabis taste is very obvious – an earthy, woody taste with a sweet background. There’s also notes of coffee, chocolate, or some other cocoa-based product that I detect here as well. Some other patients I’ve talked with described the taste as having a honeysuckle-like quality present as well; I could see where one can pick this up. Cannabis terpenes really taste much better than anything else to me; I suppose this is because flower has always been my preferred form of cannabis, and the cannabis terpenes really do a nice job of emulating the taste of their parent strains when added to distillate.

Taste Rating: 4.10/5.00

Vapor/Product Quality

Bubba Kush distillate comes in the same syringe that all other distillates I’ve tried, with an easily removable rubber cap on the bottom, allowing for easy filling of a VFire pod or your empty cartridge of choice.

Vapor/Product Quality Rating: 4.00/5.00

Effects

Ever since I joined the Florida medical marijuana registry, I’ve been searching for a strain that has those classic indica effects everyone talks about – hitting the body like a ton of bricks and locking it into the couch for a solid hour or two. Though I’ve had some good indica strains in my year as a patient, I still haven’t found one that totally knocks me out for sleep; I haven’t found one that I simply can’t stay awake on.

Bubba Kush changed that. My first experience with it went like this: I took one 3-second drag from my Trustik (VFire pod filled with distillate). Between 5 and 10 minutes later, the first full body effects hit – hard. The best way I can describe it is like having a heated, weighted blanket draped over your entire body. There’s really no desire to move around or do anything; sitting or lying in place is much more desirable.

I went ahead and took a second quick drag. That was game over; not long after the second toke, my head began to feel really heavy. It was bedtime at that point. I fell asleep fast and stayed asleep through much of the night.

The effects I’ve gotten over the nights since that first time have been consistent – it’s always much easier to fall asleep after a drag or two from the Trustik. I’ll have to keep some of this strain around simply to fight insomnia. I could see it being a great strain for pain relief as well.

Effects Rating: 4.20/5.00

Overall Rating: 4.10/5.00

GrowHealthy definitely has the best distillates, at least of all the different ones that I’ve tried. I would best describe Bubba Kush distillate as an “excellent” product, and highly recommend it for anyone looking to fight insomnia. It works for me, and for many of the other patients I’ve talked to as well. This is hands down the heaviest indica product I’ve yet to try from the Florida medical cannabis industry.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this review. Truly hope it helps you – we are here for you!

Florida Medical Cannabis Collective: 02.10.2019 Update

February 2019 is almost halfway gone, meaning that we are almost 66% through the first quarter of 2019 already. The good news is that our medical cannabis program in Florida is continuing to expand with new product offerings. The bad news is that the Florida Legislature is trying to create more issues for patients who wish to smoke their cannabis. We’ve got a mixed bag of news in this week’s update.

GrowHealthy released more strains in vape carts and distillate syringes

Earlier this week, GrowHealthy announced via their Instagram page that there are now several new strains available, some for only a limited time. They are:

Sativa: Sour Tangie and 99 Problems

Indica: Alien Bubba Berry

All these strains are processed with cannabis-derived terpenes, meaning that they are injected with the exact terpenes in the exact ratios found in the respective flower strains.

These products can be found on GrowHealthy’s product page on their website. Here is a quick link to the page.

Trulieve released Indica Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) and a new flower strain

https://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaTrees/comments/aomwv7/trulieve_gilz_nilz_hybrid_flower/

Until this week, Trulieve has only had hybrid RSO available. (For more information on RSO and its benefits, click here.) However, Trulieve now offers RSO in indica varieties as well – currently Zkittlez is the only strain available; you can order it here.

Trulieve also rolled out yet another new flower strain this past week well- a hybrid strain called Gilz Nilz. We reviewed this strain recently; you can find the review here. It is a sativa-dominant hybrid with strong stimulating cerebral effects.

Vidacann will soon release their distillate with cannabis-derived terpenes

Vidacann has announced via their Instagram page that their distillate syringe product is very close to completion and release. We detailed this announcement in another post last week; so far, 3 strains have been announced for this product: Strawberry Cough, OG Kush, and Pakistani Chitral Kush. This will offer even more “entourage effect” (two or more cannabinoids working together) options for Florida patients; this is a great thing, as most patients prefer options with more than one cannabinoid for optimum relief of their symptoms.

The Florida Legislature continues to attempt to create hurdles for patients

As we detailed in updates earlier this year, Florida Governor Ron Desantis has given the Florida legislature until mid-March to correct the current medical cannabis law to address smoking of cannabis. The legislature, unfortunately, is playing their usual game of creating ways to milk every dollar out of sick and suffering Floridians. The newest shenanigans of the primarily Republican legislature call for patients to have to visit another doctor to testify that smoking is the best method for the patient to intake cannabis. There are also provisions that require patients to be “reviewed” by a panel on a case-by-case basis for smoking their cannabis.

Needless to say, the developments have drawn outrage from all interests of the Florida cannabis market, and speculation is rife on how exactly Ron Desantis will respond to these initiatives from the legislature. We hope this atrocious law will not be accepted, but we are anxiously awaiting to see how events transpire between now and March 2019.

Altmed (MUV) flower pods have been well-received

The first ten days of Altmed’s flower sales have passed, and Reddit posts suggest that the flower is of the highest quality in the Florida medical cannabis industry. THC levels have been reported from 16% all the way up to 29%, with all strains priced at $55/eighth. The introduction of a third competitor in the Florida cannabis flower market (Trulieve and Curaleaf are the other two) will be interesting to watch as Altmed/MUV opens more dispensaries and expands their delivery area this year.

Closing Thoughts

The fact that more products are becoming available is promising, but the audacity of the Florida legislature to continue to play games with the quality of life of so many patients, is discouraging. Hopefully, Governor Ron Desantis will stick to his word of having a Florida cannabis law that the patients feel is exactly what they voted for in 2016. In the mean time, we will continue to try more products as they become available, and provide you all with the latest updates and product reviews in the program. One thing is for certain: it’s going to be a long month until mid-March, when we find out just how the “smoking ban” of cannabis in Florida will ultimately be addressed. We hope that the will of the people will prevail, and will do everything we can to help ensure that happens.

Be sure to join our email subscriber list and follow us on Twitter to stay up-to-date with all the latest in the Florida medical cannabis industry! You can find a quick-subscribe button in the righthand column on this site. Thank you for taking the time to read; we genuinely hope you find this site beneficial to helping you as a patient.

02.03.2019: VidaCann Concentrate Syringes will soon offer more competition in the Florida Cannabis Distillate Market – and more options for patients

Vidacann recently announced via an Instagram post on 02.02.2019 that their concentrate syringes are “fast approaching”, which will bring yet another cannabis distillate option for Floridians. There’s actually quite a bit of information available about their upcoming distillate.

The syringes will be marketed as 750mg THC, which leads us to believe they will be 1 gram syringes that come in around 75% THC. The Instagram post referenced above confirms that the distillate will be enriched with cannabis-derived terpenes and no other cutting agents.

We reached out to Vidacann on Instagram to inquire what strains will be available at launch. They replied back with the following:

Sativa: Strawberry Cough

Hybrid: OG Kush

Indica: Pakistani Chitral Kush (PGK)

“…and a few other surprise strains in the near future.”

Per their website, Vidacann plans to expand through much of the state of Florida in 2019, so this is great news for patients who find that cannabis concentrates provide the best relief of their symptoms. There is also a “concentrate jar” product listed as “coming soon” on the site as well – could this be shatter, crumble, terp sauce, or all 3? More options are headed our way in the coming months, so be sure to stay tuned to this website and our social media for all the latest updates on the Florida cannabis industry as we progress through a pivotal year for Florida cannabis!

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Florida Medical Cannabis Collective: 02.01.2019 Update

Hey there everyone! Want to open up this weekly update by thanking all of you (followers & viewers) for the overwhelming positive support you’ve provided during our first 2 months of operation. We have received many kind compliments and inquiries, and take pride in being able to be your chosen source for Florida Medical cannabis news, product reviews, and discussion. As we enter into the second month of 2019, January definitely seems to have progressed as we expected it to. Trulieve and Curaleaf both have much wider flower availability now vs. last summer, MUV introduced flower today, Governor Ron Desantis seems to support our right to smoke medical marijuana, and more dispensaries and products are becoming available. Hopefully, February 2019 will pick up on this momentum and accelerate as we near a more affordable and accessible market.

Altmed/MUV officially released flower today

MuV is now officially selling flower! from FLMedicalTrees

We’ve been reporting on this since the end of 2018, and it finally came to fruition today. Prices are $55/3.5g (eighth) across the board at the moment, making MUV’s flower the most expensive in the state.

The following strains were reported to be available at the Apollo Beach location:

(Credit to Reddit user Anna_McAnna for the following information.)

Sativa: Sour Jack, Pootie Tang

Hybrid: Gorilla Glue # 4, Forum Cut Cookies

Indica: Lemon Bubba, Banana Hammock, Sirius

Reported THC levels ranged from 16% all the way up to 28%.

It will be interesting to see how the current flower market reacts to a third player, especially if MUV expands into the Panhandle either through delivery or storefront openings (please come up here!).

Keep an eye on your local dispensaries for sales/specials this month

Trulieve opened the month with a 10% off sale for all flower today – you can still catch this special if you place an online order! Liberty Health Sciences also announced they would offer some of their PAX pods and other products at 20% off, so it seems reason to believe that other MMTCs will follow suit as we near Valentine’s Day. Trulieve has advertised February as “Trulove” month, so it seems they have a few more specials up their sleeve – possibly some new products as well? Whatever the case may be, most of us are nearly recovered from the 2018 holiday season, so I expect to see some grabs for sales in the coming weeks – keep an eye out for a sale that may benefit you!

Watch out for social media trolls

The photo below may or may not be legitimate, but it was stolen from the original post and used by a troll account for malicious purposes.

Check your trulieve garbage for mold and plastic. from FLMedicalTrees

An unfortunate consequence of the booming Florida cannabis market: with new successful operations, businesses, and innovators, there are bound to be those who wish to sabotage a good thing. This made itself known across various social media in the past few weeks, particularly Reddit and Instagram. We won’t name any specific names here (we did that on Reddit; you can take a look at how we defend patients by calling out bad information on a post here), but the takeaway from this should be to do your research, and take what random online users say with a grain of salt. If it sounds too bad (or too good) to be true, and there is no visible or factual evidence to be accounted for, then it probably doesn’t deserve your time or energy.

We’re always staying on top of what’s happening in Florida’s cannabis industry, so feel free to reach out to us here, on Twitter, on Reddit, or by email (FLMedCanCollective@Gmail.com) – we will always be happy to answer your questions or even do investigative research into whatever questions you may have. We stand by our word that we’re dedicated to providing you with a platform (with increasing followers every day) to speak for patient advocacy. Beware of those who wish to do the exact opposite – unfortunately, they do exist. We are seeing increasing numbers of “smear campaigns” dedicated to inciting fear, doubt, and loss of confidence in our medical cannabis industry. While we do acknowledge that there are bound to be hiccups along the way, we also acknowledge that there is propaganda out there with malicious intent towards us as patients and the industry as a whole. We have to stick together as patients; though we are extremely diverse and come from many beliefs and backgrounds, we all can agree that cannabis is our medicine, and we will band together to fight for our right to use it as we choose, and to be sure that all available information is accurate and constructive.

New Developments for Florida Medical Cannabis Collective

Though it may seem like we’ve been around for much longer (it certainly does to us), this project is only 2 months old today. We are still in our very early phases, and are always looking for ways to improve, innovate, and expand. One major development in the coming weeks will be the launch of the Florida Medical Cannabis Collective Instagram account. As flower sales expand this year, and eventually full flower (not in ceramic cups) is available, the images in our reviews and generally throughout the site will greatly increase in number. To keep all these future images of beautiful flower buds and other cannabis products in one place, and to reach as many patients as possible, it makes sense to expand our operation to this platform. Stay tuned to this site and our other social media (be sure to follow us!) for the latest updates in that regard.

I’m also excited to announce that we will be releasing reviews of GrowHealthy distillates starting next week – we were finally able to line up our schedule and get a delivery to the Panhandle, so be looking for more variety on our Product Reviews page in the coming weeks! GrowHealthy distillates come in 3 product lines: Mind (Sativa), Body (Indica), and Balance (1:1 CBD:THC). I have one syringe of each type coming this weekend, so those reviews will drop next week! Definitely looking forward to trying these GrowHealthy distillates, as they have received rave reviews on the Florida Trees and Florida Medical Trees subreddits.

If you have any suggestions for the collective – new products to review, new ideas for topics you’d like to see discussed, or just any new ideas in general – shoot them our way! We love hearing from you guys; after all, a major part of the reason we do this is to benefit as many people in the industry (patients, employees, investors, etc.) as possible.

Closing Thoughts

January 2019 was good to us. Though I believe it’s not even the tip of the tip of the iceberg of what we’re going to see this year, I do think some positive progress was made, and I believe that we have good momentum to pound through until March: when either the legislature gets it together and passes a sensible medical cannabis law, or Ron Desantis uses executive authority to drop the lawsuit from his end entirely. Either way, full flower sales are inevitable; it is now only a question of exactly when they start. Hang on tight – we’re in for a fun ride this year, and lower prices will eventually set in as the market becomes larger and increasingly competitive.

Trulieve Flower Review – Zkittlez (Indica)

Zkittlez is an indica-dominant hybrid strain that has recently risen to prominence and critical acclaim; this strain has won several cannabis cups in recent years, including the 2016 Emerald Cup. It’s a crossbreed of Grape Ape, Grapefruit, and an “undisclosed third strain”, bred by 3rd Gen Family and Terp Hogz. Trulieve released this strain at the beginning of 2019, and I was happy to find that it was in stock again this past week (end of January 2019). Though I normally prefer sativa strains to treat my depression and anxiety, I always enjoy having an indica or two around for the evening hours, and Zkittlez has truly been one of my favorites so far.

Quick Facts:

Zkittlez (Indica)

Parent Strains: Grape Ape x Grapefruit x ?

Batch/Harvest Number: FFOBBUL7PS000007 (that’s an “O” at the beginning and zeroes at the end)

602.0 mg THC/3.5g

0.0 mg CBD/3.5g

17.2% THC – Middle of the THC range for this strain

0.00% CBD

0.90% THCV – First flower I’ve gotten that has this cannabinoid, though I’ve seen that Banana Kush flower also contained it in even higher amounts

1.10% CBG

19.2% Total Cannabinoids

Appearance/Feel

Zkittlez Truflower from FLMedicalTrees

Zkittlez is the most colorful flower I’ve yet to get from the Florida medical cannabis program. These buds are full of mellow greens, light to dark purples, orange pistils, and white trichomes. We’re really just missing a few colors to complete the rainbow here. The moisture content was a bit on the dry side again, as has been a common factor in batches I’ve bought in late January. I would give Zkittlez a high rating in the Appearance/Feel category; unfortunately, however, my batch had an undesirably high amount of small stems in every cup. This is something I’ve never experienced from Trulieve, and it really held back what could have potentially been a great batch of flower.

Appearance Rating: 3.20/5.00

Smell/Taste

Zkittlez definitely has a dominant smell and taste of grape from my experience – no question about it. There’s a secondary sweetness, almost a floral sugar, and a subtle earthiness behind it all. The piney/earthy smell almost makes me suspect that the third “mystery” parent of Zkittlez could be Jack Herer, Super Silver Haze, or another sativa with a similar piney/woody terpene profile. When vaporized, however, this flower does in fact taste very similar to a pack of skittles – perhaps a pack mostly filled with purple ones. The batch I have is not a particularly “loud” or smelly flower like Dutch Hawaiian, Crescendo, or some of the other recent strains I’ve reviewed, but the taste is not lacking at all when vaporized. I really enjoyed the smell and taste of this strain.

Smell/Taste Rating: 4.10/5.00

Effects/Medical Use

For me, Zkittlez was a bit of a “paradoxical” indica strain – almost immediately after medicating with it, I was hit with an onslaught of cerebral effects that reminded me a lot of some of my first (always pleasant) experiences with cannabis. One of my best friends from childhood lives in another state, so we often play video games online after work as a way to stay connected. When medicating with Zkittlez, this was one of my favorite things in the world to do. The first night of doing this, I had a classic case of the “giggles”; I could simply not stop laughing at almost anything. After around 45 minutes to an hour of initial medication (vaporization), Zkittlez mellowed out into the more mellow body and mind relaxation that we typical associate with indica strains. This is a strain that I think can be utilized at any time of day; even in the morning. With a little caffeine, I don’t think anyone will have trouble staying awake while using Zkittlez, especially in lower doses. This is also a great strain for general “baking” or relaxation; I would recommend it for relaxed days/nights in the house watching movies or playing video games. It’s really pretty versatile – use it anytime.

Possibly good for treating:

Depression and related anxiety
General enjoyment of life/activities
Minor aches and pains
Minor nausea/gastrointestinal issues
General Relaxation

Effects Rating: 4.20/5.00

Overall Rating: 3.83/5.00

Overall, I would best describe this batch of Zkittlez as “good”.

The one major thing that held this back from being a “great” or “excellent” review was the amount of stems in my batch of flower – I bet there was close to a half gram of them. I recommend Trulieve turn a little extra attention to its QA/Quality department, especially as flower is being produced in higher numbers. You guys have a good thing going with your flower – don’t let little things like this stop that momentum!

Otherwise, the effects are great. I’ll definitely buy Zkittlez again in the future – I don’t say that about too many strains unless they are really enjoyable; this is one of them.

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Overall Rating: 3.80/5.00

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Overall Rating: 4.07/5.00

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Overall Rating: 4.10/5.00

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Overall Rating: 3.83/5.00

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