Dying Florida boy receives full-strength medical cannabis

DELTONA, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A fifteen-year-old suffering from an incurable brain tumor became one of the first patients in Florida to receive a full-strength medical cannabis product on Monday. Juan Isaiah Cruz III, who also goes by Juju, was diagnosed with Stage 3 Spindle Cell Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare type of cancer, in August 2014. After multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and visits to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Tennessee, his doctors have referred him to hospice care. Because doctors believe he has less than one year to live, he is eligible to use the full-strength marijuana spray that was produced and delivered by Surterra Therapeutics. Florida law required Cruz to wait 90 days after his first visit with Rosado before he could receive the medical marijuana. There were times when it wasn’t clear if Cruz would make it to delivery day. If voters pass Amendment 2 tomorrow that 90-day rule will still apply, but more people will be able to use medical cannabis.