Republican’s bill would legalize med pot in Florida
A majority of Florida voters favored legalizing medical marijuana during the 2014 elections. Still, it did not pass because it garnered 57.6 percent of the vote and the Florida constitution requires a 60 percent voter approval for the state constitution to be amended.
The United for Care group that backed the proposed amendment has announced that it will be back on the ballot in 2016 when more voters participate. Midterm turnout statewide hovered around 50 percent in 2014. During a presidential election approximately 70 percent of Floridians usually vote.
Most experts agree that the 20 percent difference in number of voters would help push the vote to over 60 percent. The reasons include the fact that during presidential elections more young voters are engaged and vote, for example.
But there may not be need for a new ballot initiative in 2016 if legislation proposed by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, is approved during the 2015 Florida legislative session, which begins in March. The bill would allow people who have specified serious medical conditions — such as cancer, AIDS or epilepsy — to receive and use medical marijuana if a doctor certifies its use. Patients would be limited to a 30-day supply.
Marc Caputo, of the Miami Herald, is reporting that “the [new] bill goes a step further and says that doctors could certify medical-marijuana use for other patients who have exhausted other medical treatments first.”
“This is a tremendous step towards passing a medical marijuana law without having to bring the issue back to voters in 2016,” Ben Pollara, United for Care executive director, told Caputo.
Caputo’s report also states that “Brandes’ bill does spell out these specific medical conditions: cancer, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe and persistent pain, severe and persistent nausea, persistent seizures, severe and persistent muscle spasms.
“Brandes’s sweeping 28-page bill would give the Department of Health broad authority to set standards for and regulate the cultivation and dispensing of medical marijuana. The legislation seeks to prohibit any marijuana possession at schools or in prisons and would only allow licensed patients or designated caregivers to possess the drug or marijuana paraphernalia for medical use.”
It looks like medical marijuana in Florida will be legalized one way or the other. By passing the Brandes bill, republicans have a chance to set the parameters as to how the snowballing marijuana situation is addressed.
Will we have to wait till 2016? And if the legislature passes the Brandes bill, would Gov. Rick Scott sign it into law?
