I am currently in the No column due to government. All the pro-cannabis commercials extolling all the tax revenue legalization “will” bring in ignore the elephant in the room, government regulation. If it gets the 60% needed to pass, watch government regulation go through the roof and the cannabis on the street corner will still be the cheaper buy because the legal stuff will be choked in government related expenses. Especially since as long as the border is wide open the cannabis coming across the border will be cheaper.
And from a personal level I know a friend who has smoked cannabis for 30+ years. He’s now developed emphysema and COPD due to smoking pot. The same health issues that people ranted about relating to smoking tobacco. Health expenses that you and I pay because he, like so many others, uses the local ER as his GP and has minimal insurance.
The government’s war on drugs has been a total failure and many say it should be up to the individual whether they want to use cannabis not the government, but IMO government will be involved whether it passes or doesn’t and right now I am a No vote on the amendment.
total failure? Oh, it’s worse than that. Where to start? Legal weed is not just a failure but creates a whole new level of double dealing and corruption.
The Pols had dollar signs in their eyes when they legalized it here. They taxed it so high that even the legal growers have to cheat to break even. They grow one crop for local book keeping and sale and another crop in the back room to ship out of state. They buy irrigated farmland to grow but then break all the rules by pouring all the land water into the green house. Illegal as bleep. Then they lose the water right so they steal it from the neighbors.
The store fronts have to keep two sets of books just to pay their rent. No way the stoners are going to pay the high tax prices. They go to the back door.
And way more DWSW’s-—driving while smoking weed. The drug dogs love it. Almost a bust-a-minute. The local motorcycle cops are having a field day. They say it’s about 50-50 to pull up along side a car at a light and see either a cell phone in action or a stoner lighting up?
Surely somebody will start putting filter tips on roll-your-own doobies. Hate to see the stoners getting all plugged up like your friend. Even that won’t keep it from stinking up a room.
If there’s money to be made, the government is going to be involved. Based on historical data from other states that were medical then recreational like California, Washington, and Maine, revenues rise initially but fall back to medical numbers pretty quick. Florida may be different because it will attract more tourists. Bottom line is that the people that want to obtain cannabis legally in Florida, are already doing it. $300 and a tele or phone visit gets you a card. “I got the anxiety and I need weed.”
I’d prefer they simply legalize growing a certain number of plants for personal use. Recreational use legalization ought to loosen up the parameters for which you can have THC in industrial hemp farming. The plants can only have a certain amount of THC (ridiculously low), or you can’t sell your crop. Harsh conditions will increase THC production. You get a cane or extended drought and the THC will increase. It’s also a huge threat to big oil and big cotton. I looked into it because it’s easy to make a profit on 10 acres, and the stuff grows in the sand.