Hello Everyone,
I haven’t been following, though I should be, what is the status of medical marijuana in Florida? Are we getting close yet ?
A medical marijuana law was passed in Florida in 2014, but opponents have been fighting it in the courts. A judge’s ruling in May seems to have brought that to an end. The article says it would take several months for the system to get up to speed.
Thanks
The medical marijuana that was legalized in 2014 was a special strain of marijuana (called “Charlotte’s Web”) which has shown efficacy in helping people with seizures. It is low in THC and won’t get you stoned.
A more general medical marijuana law went onto the ballot in 2014 as a proposed constitutional amendment, which required 60% approval to pass. It got about 58% (this, during a midterm election when there was a poor showing in the more liberal Southeast part of the State, and at a time when the Republican governor was re-elected. In other words, it has bi-partisan support).
The proponents of this medical marijuana amendment are working to put a more restrictive version back on the ballot for 2016, which will first require a petition with sufficient signatures (note, too, that the 2014 ballot initiative survived a legal challenge brought by the state, which argued that it was unlawfully ambiguous).
If it does get back on the ballot, I believe that it has a good chance to pass, since it barely missed last time and since a presidential election is likely to bring out more of the electorate.
Yeah, I was researching ordinances that some cities had preemptively adopted to be ready if the measure passed. It was interesting to see some of the restrictions: can’t consume on or near the retail establishment; minimum distances from schools, churches, etc; no public consumption; must be in non-smokable form; must use discreet signage; and so on.
Amazing how so many people suddenly got “sick” in states where medical pot was made legal.
I’m just going to use it to control pain. Perhaps it can replace the morphine and oxycodone.
John Morgan won’t be spending quite as much to push it this time, though (not that I object to this use of money).
By way of extrapolation, John Morgan is a wealthy personal injury attorney practicing in central Florida who spearheaded the last effort to get medical pot on the ballot (reports were that he and his firm spent about $5 million). Morgan claimed he was inspired by his brother Tim, who has been relegated to a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury caused by an accident he incurred as a lifeguard. The more cynically-minded claimed that Morgan’s effort was an attempt to rally voters likely to support Charlie Crist in his race for governor (Crist works at Morgan’s law firm).
(The opposition to the medical marijuana amendment, by the way, was largely funded by casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who provided about 85% of the money used to combat passage. What he has to do with marijuana in Florida, I’m not sure).
I’m not sure how much John Morgan intends to contribute this time, but he did just write a check for $150,000.00 in June to “jumpstart” the campaign.
[QUOTE=Bijou Drains]
Amazing how so many people suddenly got “sick” in states where medical pot was made legal.
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This actually touches on one of the more controversial parts of the last proposed amendment, which has been changed. Previously, marijuana would be able to be prescribed if the patient had a “debilitating condition” that the doctor, in his or her professional judgment, believed could be helped by pot (what constituted such a condition was left to the doctor’s professional judgment).
The new amendment tightens that definition, limiting it to “debilitating diseases” (of a class similar to the named ailments, which include ALS, MS, AIDS, or cancer) that the doctor, in his or her professional judgment, believes could be helped by pot. It’s a slightly stricter standard.
Remember, this is the “Pill Mill” state. So a debilitating condition probably won’t be that hard to demonstrate. Although some docs may require the patient to keep limping all the way to their car.
That’s actually part of why it failed last time. The law, as written, effectively allowed doctors to write an rx for marijuana for almost any reason. Some people thought it was overly broad, and although they were for medical marijuana as a concept, weren’t open to effectively legalizing it for large swaths of people for made up reasons.