The Florida House of Representatives has passed a bill to significantly reduce the fee for military veterans to obtain medical marijuana registry identification cards.
The measure from Reps. Susan Valdés (R) and Michelle Salzman (R) was approved in a unanimous 113-0 vote on Wednesday. This comes after the proposal cleared three House panels and as separate Senate legislation to reduce medical cannabis costs for veterans is also advancing.
If HB 887 is enacted into law, veterans who have been honorably discharged would need to pay a $15 fee to obtain a medical cannabis card—down from the current $75 fee for most qualifying patients.
The $15 charge would also apply to any replacement cards, as well as annual renewals.
In order to qualify for the reduced fee, veterans would need to supply the state Department of Health (DOH) with a copy of their discharge release form, a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) identification card or a Florida driver license “bearing the veteran designation.”
The law would take effect beginning on July 1 of this year.
“Medical cannabis has shown promise in alleviating symptoms commonly experienced by military veterans, like managing chronic pain, alleviating the effects of PTSD, improving sleep and reducing the dependency on opioids,” Valdés said on the House floor. “This bill will largely reduce the financial barriers veterans face when accessing medical marijuana, their chosen healthcare solution.”
“By reducing the cost of access is not only a symbolic gesture for the veterans that serve us, it directly removes the cost barrier that’s too high often keeps already underserved veterans from participating in this program, and this is a way that we can show how grateful we are to our veterans by lighting that board green,” she said, as first reported by Florida Politics.
According to a bill analysis, the reform would have an “indeterminate, negative fiscal impact on DOH.” While there are currently more than 931,000 registered medical marijuana patients in Florida, the “number of veterans who hold active medical marijuana use registry identification cards is unknown,” and so “the amount of revenue reduction is unknown.”
That said, the analysis states that the policy change would “have a positive fiscal impact on veterans who will experience a $60 reduction in the cost of the identification card under the bill.”
Earlier this month, the Senate Health Policy Committee advanced a bill from Sen. Alexis Calatayud (R) that would also reduce the medical cannabis registration fees for veterans to $15 and enact other reforms to expand medical marijuana access.
Under that proposal as amended, a doctor would be able to recommend up to five 70-day supply limits of cannabis or up to 10 35-day supply limits of smokable marijuana products. Under current law, they can only provide recommendations for a maximum of three 70-day supply limits for non-smokable cannabis and six 35-day supply limits for smokable marijuana.
The bill, SB 1032, would further make it so doctors would need to evaluate patients for medical marijuana qualification every 52 weeks, rather than the current statutory requirement of evaluations every 30 weeks.
Here’s an overview of other pending Florida marijuana bills:
—
Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
—
Meanwhile, a Florida campaign seeking to put marijuana legalization on the ballot is facing complications as it continues to litigate the status of its 2026 signature drive. Advocates are now asking the state Supreme Court to overturn officials’ decision to invalidate tens of thousands of petitions they submitted.
A new poll released this week shows that a majority of Florida voters support legalizing cannabis.
Photo courtesy of Max Jackson.
