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Lawmakers press Florida health office over products 'attractive to children' and enforcement
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Summary
Representative Porras told OMMU the agency has not sufficiently enforced laws against products and advertising attractive to children; OMMU said it denies variance requests and will investigate advertising and trade names and committed to follow up.
Representative Patricia Porras, who said she sponsored related legislation two years earlier, told the Health Professions and Programs Subcommittee she is "glad you mentioned House Bill 1387" and argued the Department of Health has not enforced provisions prohibiting medical marijuana products and advertising "attractive to children," citing cookies and candy‑style products sold in South Florida.
"To my knowledge, the department has not done any sort of investigating or enforcing of that statute," Porras said. Bobby Smith, director of the Office of Medical Marijuana Use, responded that the department has long been concerned about child‑appealing products and that OMMU often catches problematic items before they reach the market through its variance and product approval process. "Specifically to the... advertising and the trade name and logo, I committed to you that that was something that we would... look into," Smith said.
Porras pressed for stronger assurances, saying constituents have reported continued sales of THC‑infused cookies and candies. Smith said the office will follow up with targeted reviews and provide additional information to the committee; she acknowledged she could not speak to enforcement actions that predated her two‑month tenure.
The exchange occurred alongside other committee questions about age distribution, qualifying conditions and background screening. Members asked OMMU to provide more data and to verify local outreach by FAMU's Medical Marijuana Education Research Initiative. Smith said FAMU conducts community outreach required by statute and that she would confirm the program's local partners and workshops.
The committee did not take formal action on enforcement authority during the meeting; members requested follow‑up information and assurances that OMMU will investigate advertising and product names flagged as attractive to children.
