Second medical mariujuana dispensary opens in Orlando

Thirteenth store in Florida for Trulieve

ORLANDO, Fla – It has been an ongoing battle all over central Florida when it comes to medical marijuana. 

Voters overwhelmingly showed their support for medical marijuana use in the Sunshine State last November, but since then, several cities banned dispensaries from moving in.

The parking lot was full Tuesday along North Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando as Trulieve opened its 13th store in Florida across from the Fairview Marina. The company opened the first dispensary in Florida in July 2016.

For quite a while, David Privit, of St. Cloud, was treating his back pain with opioids. He said he's now using medical marijuana instead.

"I'd rather see people taking a natural substance, than something made my pharmaceuticals," he said.

The new store sells a wide range of low-THC and high-THC products like vaporizers, tinctures, and nasal sprays.

"It allows you to be more active, walk around more, to cope with the pain," Leah Scheinblum, of Winter Park, said.

Army veteran Jose Belen has made it his own mission to end veteran suicide. Part of his solution is treating post-traumatic stress disorder with medical marijuana.

"It's an alternative to all those medications we were given," Belen said. "To be able to drive 15 minutes from my home as a patient, to have access, compassionate access to this medicine, it means a lot."

Not just anyone can walk through the door and get medical marijuana. Residents need a valid prescription from a doctor just to get to the counter.

[How to apply for Florida medical marijuana ID cards]

"The doctor will qualify them, add them to the state database, they get an ID card from Florida," said Victoria Walker, who works in community relations with Trulieve. "Once they have that, they can go shopping in a store." 


About the Author:

It has been an absolute pleasure for Clay LePard living and working in Orlando since he joined News 6 in July 2017. Previously, Clay worked at WNEP TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he brought viewers along to witness everything from unprecedented access to the Tobyhanna Army Depot to an interview with convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski.

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