Knox Medical opens first medical marijuana dispensary in Orlando

Maitland resident Bruce Grossman stepped outside of the building at 1901 N. Orange Ave. in Orlando and raised his hands up in victory. The man sporting a Grateful Dead shirt had a thick pair of sunglasses and smile on his face. 

He just made a purchase from the first medical marijuana dispensary to open in Orlando. 

Knox Medical took a step forward for Central Florida patients fighting chronic pain and other ailments Friday, June 2, as it opened its Orlando dispensary. 

It’s the latest Knox storefront to open in Florida after a Gainesville location opened last month. The Miami-based company, which also operates Knox Nursery in Winter Garden, plans to open locations in Jacksonville, Tallahassee, St. Petersburg and Fort Worth as well. 

Each dispensary will sell cannabis oils, drops and capsules for medical purposes to qualified patients with a prescription. Currently, the company services close to 1,000 patients who have a variety of illnesses, including cancer, epilepsy and Crohn’s disease, COO Bruce Knox said. 

Although the expansion is part of the company’s overall growth plan — which Knox said may involve branching out to surrounding states and countries in the future — the decision of where to locate the dispensaries is based on population and politics. 

“It’s really also about the jurisdiction and who doesn’t have the zoning moratoriums,” he said. “The city of Winter Garden, the town of Windermere, Orange County — they all have moratoriums in place forbidding it, so it’s really about who has crafted reasonable zoning regulations to allow cannabis dispensaries.” 

The medical marijuana is a godsend for patients such as Grossman, a five-time cancer survivor with only one lung. 

“I’ve had four recurrences in the past six years,” Grossman said. “They chopped me open like this, opened me up with a car jack and pulled out giant tumors. What I’m hoping is that I can relieve some of the suffering and the pain that I continue to have from all of those surgeries with this product.” 

Medical marijuana users in Central Florida now will be able to step inside a building and see the products they are buying. That means they can get it much faster — and have more information and control over what they’re purchasing. 

“It’s the convenience of being able to come into a dispensary and see what’s available,” said Dr. Terel Newton, a physician with the Holistic Cannabis Centers’ Orlando location, which prescribes medical marijuana to patients who need it. “It’s great to come in and connect with a person (who) can answer certain questions on availability, whereas with a delivery person they can’t answer any questions. They don’t even know what the patient is getting when they get their deliveries in a white, unmarked package.” 

The location doesn’t make it any easier for patients to become certified users, said Grossman, adding that the laws need changing. A patient must go through a three-month process to be approved for a medical marijuana card.  

“I had to drive two hours to Lady Lake to see a prescribing doctor,” Grossman said. “If they don’t do away with this three-month rule, we just need to get rid of the management in this state, because they don’t listen to the people. Gov. (Rick) Scott was told by 72% of the voters that they wanted this and that they supported this. They continue to blockade and stop it because of their own misinformation and misdiagnosis. They must have been brought up wrong or something.” 

Grossman said the products cost him $190 for about a week’s worth of medicine.