Online ordering of medical marijuana is restored by Florida judge

Leafly and similar sites will be able to resume working with Florida medical marijuana businesses to provide online ordering of the drug, under a ruling from an administrative law judge.

Florida health officials this year stopped medical marijuana operators from using Leafly and other third-party sites to process patient orders, saying the arrangements violated a state law banning operators from contracting for services “directly related to the cultivation, processing and dispensing” of cannabis.

Leafly and other websites allow patients to shop online, compare prices and view product availability at dispensaries. Patients can order products and be notified when their orders are completed, but customers have to pick up and pay for items in person. Medical marijuana providers pay the e-commerce companies for marketing, advertising and ordering services on a subscription basis.

But Seattle-based Leafly Holdings argued that it is not dispensing cannabis products because the company does not accept payment for or send cannabis products to patients. The company filed a petition asking an administrative law judge to find that the Florida Department of Health employed an “unadopted and invalid rule” to conclude that the online services violated the law. [Read more at Orlando Sentinel]