The General
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Matt Lytle draws circles that emanate from Brevard County on a road atlas map of Florida pinned to the wall behind his desk. The Titusville native, who served in the Marine Corps for 11 years, returned from the Asia-Pacific region in April to get on the ground floor of the fledgling medical marijuana industry in Florida. Concerned about problems with addiction and side effects he has seen other veterans face, Lytle believes medical marijuana is a better alternative to prescription drugs and created Old Florida Dreams in February to launch his ventures.
"I think the prescription medications that are out on the market right now do more harm than medical marijuana could ever do," Lytle said. He initially plans to deliver a specific marijuana extract that becomes legal Jan. 1. If voters approve widespread medical marijuana in November, he plans to grow marijuana plants. "Medical marijuana shows a lot of potential," Lytle said. "Why not try to make a living helping other people."
He met resistance at a Titusville City Council meeting Tuesday during a discussion about a proposed moratorium on medical marijuana operations as well as a law prohibiting marijuana cultivation in the city. The proposed moratorium would curtail the establishment of medical marijuana treatment centers, dispensaries or other facilities in the city until May 1, 2015. After wrestling with pill mills and Internet cafes in the past few years, Councilman Walt Johnson suggested the moratorium should be longer to allow more time to observe how other cities deal with the issue of medical marijuana.
"We've had experience recently with things that are out of the ordinary," Johnson said. "We had Internet cafes, which I don't think we quite understood what they were when they started, and they have since then been prohibited by the state." The Titusville council is expected hold final pubic hearings and votes on both the medical marijuana moratorium and cultivation ban at its next meeting on Aug. 27. Meanwhile, Lytle is developing a delivery strategy for the distribution of "Charlotte's Web," a non-euphoric marijuana in Florida, which is legal under the Compassionate Care Act signed by Gov. Rick Scott in June.
Come Jan. 1, doctors in Florida will be allowed to prescribe the cannabis extract to treat conditions such as cancer, epilepsy and ALS. Lytle is working with Sunrise Compassionate Care, a South Florida startup seeking one of five licenses available in the state to grow, prepare and distribute oil from marijuana plants under the Charlotte's Web law. "We will probably start off with 10 cars," said Lytle, who would coordinate delivery of marijuana extract to individual patients. "As the market demands more, we can always grow."
If medical marijuana passes in November, Lytle plans to expand and get into the cultivation end of the business using warehouses and providing jobs to veterans. "We can take prior military members that are having a hard time, either under-employed or having a hard time getting into the job market, and retrain them in the medical cannabis industry," Lytle said. He expects veterans with combat-related issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder to better adapt to the quiet solitude of a warehouse facility growing pot. But it was the growing of cannabis that Johnson was especially concerned about, and he considered it a local issue.
"We want to protect our town ... from cultivation of marijuana," Johnson said. "It's a money situation, there is a possibility that it gets abused and we want to avoid that." Lytle, who graduated from Astronaut High in 1993, said he wants to put a medical marijuana cultivation operation in Titusville to help boost the economy of his hometown that has suffered from a downsizing of the space industry. "To see all the empty buildings and some of the run-down areas of Titusville, it makes me a little sad," Lytle said.
Despite an initial cold reception from city leaders, Lytle hasn't given up on filling some of those empty buildings in Titusville with workers tending to marijuana plants that eventually become relief for people with illnesses. "I'm really passionate about what I'm trying to do here," Lytle said. "They haven't seen the last of me."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Floridatoday.com
Author: Scott Gunnerson
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Marine will be on medical marijuana ground floor
"I think the prescription medications that are out on the market right now do more harm than medical marijuana could ever do," Lytle said. He initially plans to deliver a specific marijuana extract that becomes legal Jan. 1. If voters approve widespread medical marijuana in November, he plans to grow marijuana plants. "Medical marijuana shows a lot of potential," Lytle said. "Why not try to make a living helping other people."
He met resistance at a Titusville City Council meeting Tuesday during a discussion about a proposed moratorium on medical marijuana operations as well as a law prohibiting marijuana cultivation in the city. The proposed moratorium would curtail the establishment of medical marijuana treatment centers, dispensaries or other facilities in the city until May 1, 2015. After wrestling with pill mills and Internet cafes in the past few years, Councilman Walt Johnson suggested the moratorium should be longer to allow more time to observe how other cities deal with the issue of medical marijuana.
"We've had experience recently with things that are out of the ordinary," Johnson said. "We had Internet cafes, which I don't think we quite understood what they were when they started, and they have since then been prohibited by the state." The Titusville council is expected hold final pubic hearings and votes on both the medical marijuana moratorium and cultivation ban at its next meeting on Aug. 27. Meanwhile, Lytle is developing a delivery strategy for the distribution of "Charlotte's Web," a non-euphoric marijuana in Florida, which is legal under the Compassionate Care Act signed by Gov. Rick Scott in June.
Come Jan. 1, doctors in Florida will be allowed to prescribe the cannabis extract to treat conditions such as cancer, epilepsy and ALS. Lytle is working with Sunrise Compassionate Care, a South Florida startup seeking one of five licenses available in the state to grow, prepare and distribute oil from marijuana plants under the Charlotte's Web law. "We will probably start off with 10 cars," said Lytle, who would coordinate delivery of marijuana extract to individual patients. "As the market demands more, we can always grow."
If medical marijuana passes in November, Lytle plans to expand and get into the cultivation end of the business using warehouses and providing jobs to veterans. "We can take prior military members that are having a hard time, either under-employed or having a hard time getting into the job market, and retrain them in the medical cannabis industry," Lytle said. He expects veterans with combat-related issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder to better adapt to the quiet solitude of a warehouse facility growing pot. But it was the growing of cannabis that Johnson was especially concerned about, and he considered it a local issue.
"We want to protect our town ... from cultivation of marijuana," Johnson said. "It's a money situation, there is a possibility that it gets abused and we want to avoid that." Lytle, who graduated from Astronaut High in 1993, said he wants to put a medical marijuana cultivation operation in Titusville to help boost the economy of his hometown that has suffered from a downsizing of the space industry. "To see all the empty buildings and some of the run-down areas of Titusville, it makes me a little sad," Lytle said.
Despite an initial cold reception from city leaders, Lytle hasn't given up on filling some of those empty buildings in Titusville with workers tending to marijuana plants that eventually become relief for people with illnesses. "I'm really passionate about what I'm trying to do here," Lytle said. "They haven't seen the last of me."
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Floridatoday.com
Author: Scott Gunnerson
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Marine will be on medical marijuana ground floor
