 is one of the forces that shape American life. It affects everything from housing to policing, even farming. And after years of delays, there's a new state law designed to bring fairness to the state system for issuing licenses for marijuana production. This will align state law with the federal Pigford versus Glickman settlement with the US Department of Agriculture, which prohibits government discrimination against minority farmers. That went into effect on July 1st. So to put it simply, black farmers sued the government for discrimination, and they won. So rules have been set up to stop it from happening in the future. And now that rule applies to marijuana farms in the state. With me now is state senator Tracey Davis, one of the lawmakers behind the legislation. She joins us in the studio. State Senator Davis, hello, hello, hello. Good morning, good morning, good morning, Al. You doing all right today? I am so doing, doing all right today, especially talking about this subject. Excellent. So I'm going to invite you guys to call in and talk to us at 5492937 or tweet us at FCC on air or email us at FirstGhostConnect at wjct.org or message us on Facebook. And please, people, stay on topic. All right, so can you explain Pigford in a bit more detail for those who may not be familiar with the ruling? OK, first of all, you did a great job with breaking it down so people can understand you. Very good, very good. But just to go into a little bit further, Pigford and Black Farmers is a class member. They are identified in our state law. So again, with the discrimination case that you talked about, that was the opening door to now we have this medical marijuana industry. And what we just did with HB387 is open that door even more for our Pigford and Black Farmers to be a part of the medical marijuana industry that we have here in Florida. So what we did with HB387 was that the last round of Pigford applicants, again, these people are identified in our state law. There were 12 applicants that applied for the Pigford license. 12 applications will be granted. We're fighting for one license because that's how the law was set up. So in our state law, they're identified special class and the special class of people were fighting for one medical marijuana license. So with that, we had 12 applications. We had one winner. And when that winner won the application, the other 11 folks sued. And so the first Pigford that had the most points that gentleman passed away. Before he received the letter from the Department of Health saying they were going to approve or deny his application, he actually had one. He passed away three weeks before receiving that letter and everyone else sued because Department of Health came back and said, well, we can't grant this license to this entity or this person because he's no longer with us. So now you have litigation everywhere and you have to figure out what to do. Well, that happened some years ago and for the last six years, those 12 applicants have been waiting to receive a word of what the Department of Health is going to do and no license has been given. So thankfully with all the work we did, HB387, that was signed by our governor and that was a shock to all of us, but it was signed, opened the door for all 11 of these applicants to cure their deficiencies within a 90-day period and be awarded a medical marijuana license at the end of that. OK. I want to take a step back. I definitely want to talk about the dissensus of all of this and how that happened, but I just want to take a step back and really look at the issue of marijuana and marijuana farms, medical marijuana. I've been in California for the last couple of years and it's legal there and there are dispensaries everywhere. I actually went into a dispensary once and I was surprised it was sort of like going into a bank because there's security there. It's like all the products are laid out then you go up to a teller. It's surreal, especially come from Florida where like you don't do that. We don't have that. I mean, we have a couple, but I don't have a car. Nothing like that, right? But what struck me about being in California and seeing that is that just being honest about it, most of the people who were in charge and running these businesses who were profiting off of these business were usually young white men, young white women. And then just to think about that in one part of the country, you've got these successful businesses that are bringing in a lot of money. Clearly they're bringing in a lot of money. The dispensary that I went to was packed. That's the reason for a lot of security. So they're bringing in a lot of money. But then you have other parts of the country where primarily black people are in jail for selling it, for selling this exact same product, maybe even actually a lower grade street product versus people who are making a lot of money in this. So I'm just curious, when you were thinking about taking on this case and trying to change this legislation, was that something that was in your mind, the disparity between the two? So I love when people ask me this part of the story. Yes, all of that that you just talked about is 100% true. We have to remember that we are talking about medical marijuana, not recreational. And that starts there. So Florida has gotten to a point where we're willing to open the door for folks to become a part of this medical marijuana industry. But it is still disproportionately represented when we talk about black to white. This is a very expensive business to be a part of. And the way Florida has it set up, it's a vertical integration. And for folks out there listening out, that means you have to be able to afford the seed to sell approach. You have to be able to cultivate it, you grow it, package it, sell it. And that is very expensive. And a lot, unfortunately, a lot of black people outside of the white industry, the people that hold this billion dollar industry in their hands, and it's not their fault, it's the fact that black people just don't have this kind of dollars. We don't have these kind of dollars. That's right. You're talking about a billion dollar industry. And again, the way it's set up in Florida, you have to be able to do the seed to sell. So that stops us. And so going back to your question, how I got involved, I have a constituent who is a friend and her grandmother is actually a Pickford. And so she brought this to me and she said, hey, we're in this litigation, this is what happened. We applied, we were denied. We're in the middle of a lawsuit, but we have this legislative language that if we could get this in law, it would help us get through the door. And then she said, and my grandmother is 100 years old. So the fact that grandmother would not be here beyond another session, I went into session saying, this is something that we could do. These black farmers are part of our statute. They are identified in law. And so why should this be that hard to get done? Why should this be that hard? And it was, it was hurdle after hurdle. And not because I think that we were dealing with Pickford black farmers, especially an identified class of members identified in our law, it's just Florida doesn't want to open the door. They don't. But unfortunately, the way our law is set up, once we hit 800 patients, 800,000 patients, which we have by law, we have to issue five licenses. Every time we hit an 800,000 patient threshold, we have to administer five more licenses out in the field. We just closed a window to issue 22 more licenses. We took in about 70 applications and we're going to issue 22 more licenses from that. So no matter what we don't want to do, medical marijuana is here in Florida in our laws mandate that we move forward with it. So knowing that my constituent had this grandmother that was 100 years old. She had this, this acreage of all this farmland that they had been farming on that was ag and they want to end in this, into this medical marijuana industry. That was my inspiration and fight. And I was not going to finish session without, without coming back and telling Miss Leola Robinson, we had done it for her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's excellent. So like just going off the numbers that you just laid out to me, the thing that comes to mind to me is that like, it seems that when the law was passed that maybe legislature, legislators didn't necessarily believe that Floridians would go out and get these licenses in mass the way they have. And what that tells me is that Floridians are in favor. And maybe I'm making a stretch here, but Floridians are in favor of making marijuana legal throughout the state beyond medical licenses. I guess what I'm saying is like, if so many people are applying for these medical licenses, it feels like there's a movement to legalize marijuana just without the card, like they have in California. So I think we do have again, we, the state, the state law is set up to where we have a threshold of 800,000 patients. And we are well on the way of a second round of that. So I have to agree with that to a certain point. We're talking medical marijuana versus recreational. And I do think there's an appetite throughout our state for recreational. And I know there's an amendment that's out in the field now. And you know, voters will speak just like they've done on any other amendment that they wanted to have become law. They will speak. And so I think there is a great movement for recreational, but we definitely have to see. I know personally my fight right here and now is knowing everything there is to know about medical marijuana and to ensure that these Pickford black farmers are a part of this industry, like they've never been before, to have, you know, 11 to 12 applicants be able to cure an application within 90 days. That means we possibly can be issuing 12 licenses to Pickford black farmers, the special class of people that have been waiting for seven years. Now we're talking about generational wealth here with this industry. We're talking a billion dollar industry. And these folks have been waiting for years. And so I'm just excited that we have this opportunity and I'm even more excited when that 90 day period hit and we can announce how many Pickford black farmer licenses we're giving out. Yeah, so if you had a Venn diagram of things that Governor DeSantis does not care for and one of them was like a circle of drug policy and another one was a circle of issues related to diversity and race. And you put them together, they would overlap and that sweet spot would be this bill that you're pushing, right? That you got passed, excuse me. Like clearly that is like the sweet spot for like Governor Ron DeSantis does not care for or at least the way it shows up in policy, it's clear that he doesn't care for. How did you get him to sign this? If I could answer that, I just would be able to answer all the questions that everyone asked me or solve all the problems of the world. You are absolutely right. This fell in such a sweet spot. That was the best description I've heard of it, by the way. You know, yes, we, this session was full of attacks when it came to our diversity, equity and inclusion. Our colleges were attacked by that, you know, prohibited from using funding to provide, you know, DEI programs or hire people. I just, I really, really have no, no earthly idea how we fell in a sweet spot. I know there was full on support for it. I know 39 senators voted for it and that was all of us that were there that day with one being absent. And I know most of the House members voted for it and I think it was like 105 to eight. So overwhelming support for this bill in the House and the Senate. And the other part of this bill is not just what we just did for the Pigford block farmers in relation to the medical marijuana. That was an amendment. The actual bill was to ensure that qualified physicians could perform exams once in person. And then when someone went to renew their medical marijuana card, they could do it via telehealth. So that was the bill. And then we laid our amendment on it for the Pigford block farmers. So we got two significant pieces of legislation across the line in one jump. But going back to your question as to how we got it across, first of all, this was those two bills, like I explained, those two bills were great for this state because we're there. Like I said, we have over probably 820,000 people with cards now for medical marijuana. So there's no way we can backtrack or stop progress in this industry. And the other thing is this cost the state nothing. This passing this law with the governor signing HB 387, there is minimal fiscal impact to the state. And he may have looked at that significantly and that may be, have been a significant reason. There are other things that we could talk about, but we'll leave that alone. You're listening to First Coast Connect. This is Al Letten. And today we are speaking with State Senator Tracy Davis. Listen, if you wanna join the conversation, call us at 549-2937 or tweet us at FCC on air or email us at FirstCoastConnect at wjct.org or send us a message on Facebook and people, please stay on topic. All right, so I guess the question I have is, can you break it down for me a little bit? Like how many licenses are in the state currently and with this bill, how many black farmers are going to be added to that number of people who have licenses? That's a good question. I should have been more prepared. I know we have probably about 30, between 30 and 40 licenses that are out there right now. And this HB 387 has a potential because like I said, these folks that applied in the last round, just for Pigford Black Farmer Round, it was 12 applicants. And the gentleman who won the one license that was granted in law by the state to the Pigford black farmers, he passed away. So we right now have a potential of 12 because his team is in litigation after the state said we couldn't issue a license to someone who is no longer alive. We, again, we have a potential for 12 licenses. Okay. And so what does that mean for new people who are seeking licenses and how is your office helping them? Wow, so this is a process because I- It sounds like it's a long process. It's a terribly long process. There is a break, a window. The Department of Health will open up a window and it is usually a week. So you are working on a 70 page application with all of the diagrams and answering all of the significant questions on the application because you have to show your seat to sell process. You have to show a cultivation plan, a dispensing plan. I mean, you have to show that you have financial capacity to be able to handle this. And Al, like I said, this is a million dollar, billion dollar industry. So you have to show to the state that you have financial capacity to be able to do this product from seat to sell and all the plans therefore that goes with it. And so my office will help anyone but it's the Department of Health that they need to go to. The information is on the website. We can help them as much as we possibly can. But as far as being intimately involved with their application and things like that, I keep arms length away because I am the legislator. And so I have to deal with the law and the policy of it and not necessarily the application and the makeup of what you're submitting. But we are excited about this. We want more people to be a part of this industry. And again, if we can help them in any kind of way, we absolutely will. But I got to get these pick for black farmers over the finish line right now. And we still have a ways to go. Like I said, they have a 90 day cure period. So we got to get them over the ultimate finish line. Yeah. So we have a question from Twitter. It's from Susan. Her question is, will the legalization of marijuana show up on the ballot in 2024? People shouldn't have to go to jail for possession. But what will be zoning for places that sell it if citizens approve it? Oh, that's a lot going on. So the amendment has some of that. And I'm sure, again, once the voters speak, as far as making recreational legalized, and we have to make sure it gets across the finish line, if that's something voters want, they'll vote on it just like they did amendment four and those other amendments to make sure the state hears them loud and clear. But as far as where a person can go and the legalization around that, there'll be a special rulemaking process after the amendment goes into effect, where it's accepted. The Department of Health will do all that legalization and identify where people can go and the remnants with employees and things like that. Sure. Being in Florida, employees still have the right to make sure their places of employment are marijuana-free zones. Yeah, yeah. I would say to Susan, just from living in California, and I don't know all the laws around marijuana or dispensaries and selling them, but they're dispensaries all over Oakland and all over San Francisco, I mean, literally everywhere. Which, you know, I mean, and I would say that I could be totally wrong, but I feel like the question kind of maybe implies that these dispensaries would be seedy places and they're really not. They're really very much like, like I said, like it feels like you're going into a bank to withdraw marijuana, it's like that. So we'll see what the legislature decides to do. Actually, we'll see what the people of Florida decide to do and then how the legislature responds to that. Yeah, I have to agree with you there with the seediness of it. Half of the places that I've seen even around here in Florida, we have a few. You don't even realize that's what it is. Yeah, yeah. The dispensary, you really don't. Unless you know that's what it is, it looks like you're just walking into a very intimate kind of place of business. There's usually not a lot on the doors of the walls even, you know, indicate that's what it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So before we go, I'd love to ask you what are the things that you are looking forward to or dreading in the next session? I knew you were gonna get me there. Well, I'll tell you this and I think a lot of people are talking about it. We passed them laws that allow this current governor to go and run for president and then be able to come back to the state of Florida. That's interesting. Yeah, resign to run. And so I anticipate if folks watched and were aware of what we passed, things like the Permanentless Carry, a six-week abortion ban. And I mean, there was some tough things we did. Billions of dollars into education but not sufficiently still paying our teachers. So the list could go on and on, but he's gonna come back and he's going to, in my personal opinion, it will be even more things we have to fight even harder. So I really, really hope people are paying attention because voting is more important than ever before and we gotta have everybody on the same page voting when it's time to do it. Yes. On that note, State Senator Tracy Davis, thank you so much for coming in and talking to me.