Best Workers' Compensation Lawyers in Boca Raton, FL

Medical marijuana is a $1 billion industry in Florida -- the third highest in the nation. This spring, the state is expected to start allowing more farmers to compete for medical marijuana licenses for the first time since the application process first opened in 2015. Black farmers in Florida believe the state has intentionally blocked them from a modern agriculture industry focused on growing, cultivating and distributing medical marijuana. There are now 22 medical marijuana operators controlling about 400 retail stories in Florida, and none of them are Black owned, despite a law requiring that one license be issued to a Black farmer who was party to a $1 billion lawsuit against the federal government known as the Pigford case. Attorney Greg Francis of Osborne & Francis led the legal team for Black farmers involved in the 2010 settlement in the Pigford case. “The case was about years of discrimination against Black farmers, who were denied the opportunity to participate in many of the programs that the Department of Agriculture was providing for farmers,” Francis said. “Programs that really were created to benefit America as a whole really ended up being used against Black farmers and forcing them off of their land and into different industries.” The state of Florida has set aside 19 new licenses to grow, cultivate, and distribute medical marijuana. However, only one license will go to a Black farmer, a situation which Francis says mirrors discrimination of the past.