No. SB 1368
Filed under Transportation.
THC; Defining the term “THC-infused beverage”; prohibiting a person from possessing an open container of a THC-infused beverage or consuming such beverage while operating a vehicle in this state, being a passenger in or on a vehicle being operated in this state, or while seated in or on a parked or stopped motor vehicle within a road in this state; prohibiting a person from selling, giving, serving, or permitting the service of THC-infused beverages to persons under 21 years of age; providing criminal penalties, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDExtends Florida's open-container law for alcohol to THC-infused beverages. Anyone operating a vehicle or riding as a passenger may not possess an open THC drink or consume one, and the same ban covers people sitting in a car parked or stopped on a road.
Selling, serving, or giving a THC-infused beverage to anyone under 21 becomes a crime, and so does a minor's own possession of one. First offenses are second-degree misdemeanors; a repeat offense within a year escalates to a first-degree misdemeanor.
A new section creates a licensing system for THC-infused beverages modeled on alcohol regulation. Retail sales are confined to alcohol-licensed premises, delivery is banned, and stores must stay 500 feet from schools and day cares.
Distributors must pay 5 cents per milligram of hemp-derived cannabinoid in every beverage sold at wholesale, collected monthly by state regulators. Violating the new licensing rules also draws civil fines of up to $10,000 per offense.
AIAnyone operating a vehicle or riding as a passenger may not possess an open THC-infused beverage or drink one; the same ban applies to people sitting in a car parked or stopped on a road, and a violation remains a nonmoving traffic violation under the section's existing penalty clause.
AISelling, giving, serving, or permitting service of a THC-infused beverage to anyone under 21, or letting a minor consume one, is a second-degree misdemeanor, rising to a first-degree misdemeanor for a repeat violation within a year. A minor's own possession carries the same escalating penalties.
AITHC-infused beverages may be sold at retail only at locations already licensed to sell alcoholic beverages; selling them anywhere else, including unpermitted businesses, street sales, or festival sales, is unlawful.
AIRetail sales or transfers of THC-infused beverages must happen face-to-face at a licensed retail location. Delivering these beverages to consumers, whether directly or through a third party, is prohibited outright.
AIDistributors must pay 5 cents per milligram of hemp-derived cannabinoid in every THC-infused beverage sold at wholesale, remitted monthly to the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco by the 10th of the following month.
AIAn establishment permitted to sell THC-infused beverages at retail may not be located within 500 feet of a school or day care facility, though the buffer applies only to retail sellers, not to manufacturers or distributors.
AIA retail licensee permitted to sell THC-infused beverages cannot also hold a distributor's license or a food permit to manufacture the same beverages, and distributors face a matching bar on holding a manufacturing food permit, mirroring alcohol's three-tier structure.