A settlement agreement this week means Central Florida will get a second medical marijuana grower.
McCrory’s Sunny Hill Nursery in Lake Wales lost its original bid to grow marijuana by a fraction of a point. It challenged that award in court, and reached a settlement with the Florida Department of Health to become the seventh grower in Florida.
“We’ve got about 35,000 square feet under lights right now ready to grow," said CEO Don Clifford. "Obviously we don’t have plants or anything because we haven’t gotten cultivation authorization. But as soon as we have that, we’ll put plants in place and begin growing.”
Clifford said he expect to have medical marijuana available for patients by fourth quarter of next year under the brand name GrowHealthy.
Florida has a limited medical marijuana program, but with passage of Amendment 2, the market is expected to grow to nearly 500,000 patients.