A months-long hearing kicked off Monday in a fierce licensure battle over a rare opportunity to join the state’s medical-marijuana industry.

The hearing, slated to run through mid-February, comes nearly a year after Florida health regulators announced their intent to award medical-marijuana licenses to 22 of dozens of applicants who vied for the licenses.

Legal and administrative wrangling began almost immediately after the November 2024 announcement, leaving 13 of the rejected applicants to participate in the hearing before Administrative Law Judge Mary Li Creasy that began Monday.

The Florida Department of Health, along with nearly all of the companies selected for licensure, also are part of the complex administrative procedure involving hundreds of exhibits and days of witness and e

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