Once the new industry’s structure is set up, would-be pot-shop owners will have practical concerns before they get started.

“The application process is different in every state, but it’s always going to be extremely competitive and very detail heavy,” said Taylor West, the deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association in Denver, a trade association that represents more than a thousand marijuana-industry businesses in both medical and recreational marijuana states.

Applications have almost invariably taken longer than estimated, West said. Illinois, which passed a medical marijuana law in 2013, is “just starting to see patient counts getting up to a level where there’s some consistency and solidity to the program,” she said.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/florida-politics-blog/fl-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-20161123-story.html