Posted on 03/14/2019 10:54:31 AM PDT by NobleFree
TALLAHASSEE - Without much debate and two days before Gov. Ron DeSantis’ deadline, a bill to repeal a ban on smoking medical marijuana has finally rolled onto the governor’s desk.
The Florida House affirmed the right to smoke medical pot Wednesday afternoon, approving the Senate bill to include “smoking” to the language in the medical marijuana constitutional amendment. The bill allows patients to receive up to 2.5 ounces of whole flower cannabis every 35 days as recommended by their qualified doctor.
The bill passed 101-11. Seven representatives were not present for the vote.
DeSantis in January tasked the Legislature with amending Florida law to allow smoking medical marijuana. If legislators didn’t by the March 15 deadline he set, the governor said he would do so with litigation.
House Speaker José Oliva has openly criticized smoking medicinal marijuana as an option, saying efforts to legalize it are just “some cover” for getting access to recreational marijuana.
“I’ve been in the smoke business my entire life and I’ve never heard anyone say it’s good for you,” the Miami Lakes Republican and cigar company CEO said then.
On Wednesday, Oliva told reporters that he had reservations then and still has them now.
“This is a difficult issue ... This is the best that we could do and still remain responsible,” he said. “I would certainly have been interested to hear what would have come of that appeal. We might still. But I think that the most important thing was that the elected lawmakers of the state have an opportunity to legislate how this will be governed in our state.”
In 2016, about 71 percent of voting Floridians approved a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana. While the 2017 bill signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott legalized access to the drug in pill, oil, edible and vape form, it made smoking it illegal.
The provision, which became known as the “smoking ban,” was challenged in circuit court in July 2017. In May 2018, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers ruled the smoking ban to be unconstitutional, but the Department of Health appealed the ruling. After DeSantis announced his intent to drop the appeal, both parties filed a motion to stay the appeal until this month.
In addition to repealing the ban on smoking, the bill passed Wednesday also establishes a Medical Marijuana Research and Education Board. The board will oversee a research consortium established by the state university system’s Board of Governors, which will receive $1.5 million for the program. Instead of only including the University of Florida as the previous law did, all universities can apply to participate. House bill sponsor Rep. Ray Rodrigues said expanding the research is something that “we would be benefited from.”
The bill also requires a second opinion from a board-certified pediatrician for non-terminal patients under age 18.
“While there’s not a lot of science out there currently on the effects of medical marijuana there’s a body of science on the effects of medical marijuana to the developing brain,” Rodrigues said. “But with children who have a terminal illness, long-term concerns are secondary to the short-term concerns.”
It deletes a provision that prohibits a medical marijuana treatment center from selling products like pipes, bongs or rolling papers. Another amendment passed to allow patients to buy those products at third-party locations if they are using marijuana for medical use. The bill only addresses the repeal of the smoking ban and does not address the current integration structure surrounding medical marijuana treatment centers nor does it address provisions like drug-free workplace protections.
If the chamber didn’t pass a bill to repeal a ban on smoking marijuana, the ban would be dissolved via litigation.
Rodrigues, chair of the chamber’s Health & Human Services Committee, said without a bill, no “guardrails” would exist to protect patients through rule-making like second opinions for minors and limits on recommended doses from certified physicians.
“It is upon [doctors] to do their jobs, to treat this as medicine and be diligent about how they’re recommending it to their patients,” said Rodrigues, R-Estero. “We’ll be watching and we’ll be hopeful that the best will occur. If the best does not occur, this subject will be revisited in the future.”
DeSantis has two days to review the bill before his own deadline to enact a law.
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, a former marijuana lobbyist who campaigned on the promise of expanded access to the medicine, said the legislation was needed.
“Today’s action to finally allow smokable medical marijuana brings four words to the lips of people across our state: ‘It’s about damn time,’ ” Fried said. “I’m thankful for the House and Senate’s work to fix this situation.”
One mistake and you are dead if you “lost life’s lottery”.
Consistency is to prohibitionism what sunlight is to vampires.
People who refused to obey drug laws are easy to control? That really doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Excellent!
Hope you have good results quickly
FReegards
People who are on psychoactive drugs are easy to control. This thread is about legalization, not illegalization.
Perhaps that will clear it up.
On your point:
” Did you really think we want those laws observed?” said Dr. Ferris. “We want them to be broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against... We’re after power and we mean it... There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that’s the system, Mr. Reardon, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.
—Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
My real life experience contradicts your theory.
Sounds like a pro-legalization statement to me.
The war on drugs is a farce and creates criminals. It is a moneymaker for governments. And has robbed Americans of personal property and wealth without due process. Broke up families. Murdered innocent citizens (and pets). It does nothing to stop drug use nor help its victims. But it does punish lots of people who could benefit from it and many others.
I submit the spike in thought disorders is due to the franken foods we’ve been eating the last 50 years & not because of cannabis.
Cannabis treated my mental illness symptoms.
Changing to a carnivorous diet eliminated them entirely.
You can hear me talk about it here: https://www.carnivorecast.com/podcast/brett
No it’s not. That’s a serious condition.
I am sorry.
I will say prayers tonight for her.
Boy on a thread like this you start to forget the issues you have and feel for others that have their own crosses.
Thanks - been a year and life goes on.
As one gets older, more folks around them die, but a child is the worst (even a 50 year old child)...getting ready to head to Dansville, NY for a brother in law.
Brother in law passed on Weds and funeral is next Fri
I did send prayers your way and will send more.
You’re a good guy. I can tell from the many interactions we have had here.
(I see I let a couple get by - since when is an increase over 5 decades a "spike"? And given that marijuana use has declined from 5 decades ago, where is the evidence that decades-ago marijuana use causes dementia and schizophrenia?)
I call BS - post links to the alleged medical reports that support your claim.
I submit the spike in thought disorders is due to the franken foods we’ve been eating the last 50 years & not because of cannabis.
I submit that there's no evidence on the table for any spike in thought disorders - let alone those thought disorders for which any link to cannabis has been shown.
People think our efforts to stop the population from using drugs are a disaster, but this is because they are ignorant of what happened to China because they allowed drugs.
People don't learn from history. They think the world began when they were born.
Cannabis treated my mental illness symptoms. Changing to a carnivorous diet eliminated them entirely.
I think you may be right about everything you said.
The lack of a war on drugs for over a century did not destroy the United States.
People don't learn from history.
The irony is priceless. Particularly given your adamant refusal to learn anything from the history of Prohibition.
Didn't have British shipping in tons of the stuff everyday. As has been pointed out many times before, the Civil War started the USA towards massive drug addiction, but by the time it was getting bad, the Federal authorities stepped in and stopped it.
We didn't go through China like destruction because we banned drugs at the beginning of the 20th century.
But you don't care. You are just going to keep repeating your same pablum over and over again.
Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt...
"Soldiers' disease" was far from "massive" - and its inception during wartime gives no reason whatsoever to suppose it would propagate during peacetime.
but by the time it was getting bad, the Federal authorities stepped in and stopped it.
Actions against drugs didn't start until decades after the war ended.
So far the lessons of history are against you.
China’s problems are not because of any freedoms with drugs. The political system, corruption, lack of opportunity, poverty, etc. Is the root of their drug addicts problems.
China is a mess. Not because of drugs. The addicts are the symptoms only. Freedom is not something China allows. It is not a fair comparison in the least.
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