The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    Florida's Amendment 2 Medical Marijauna

    By trkingmomoe on Thu, 07/24/2014 - 11:58pm |

    This November the voters in Florida will be voting on Amendment to legalize medical marijuana. In order for it to pass 60% of the voters have to vote yes on it. This will amend the state constitution to allow it's use.  A group called United for Care was the force behind getting bill on the ballot. Florida will be the first state in the deep South to legalize medical marijuana if it passes.  

    John Morgan, who is a well know lawyer from Orlando, put up 5 million dollars of his own money to finance the signature petition to get this on the ballot this year.  This is personal for him because his brother years ago was left in a wheel chair after a car accident. Pot helps ease the chronic pain his brother suffers.  He believes that this initiative will pass in a land slide because the tide is turning on understanding the importance of this drug. This was the ad that was broadcast during the petition drive.

    The initiative to put this before the voters did end up in front of the State Supreme Court. Morgan and Morgan Law Office was no stranger to that court and had everything in order for the approval.  It is important to add that John Morgan was also Charley Crist's boss.  Anyone who has lived in this state over the years has heard John Morgan's commercials for his law office where he talks about his brother's ordeal.  To legalize medical marijuana was on his wish list for years. 

    The Republican State Administration is very worried about it because they fear it will drive up the Democrat vote.  They passed and Rick Scott signed a very weak bill called Charlotte's Web, that legalizes a certain type of cannabis that is used for treatment for epilepsy.  They are now setting up a lottery to choose the 5 nurseries that have been in business at least 30 years to produce that type of cannabis.  There is 49 nurseries that have applied to be in the lottery. They don't want newer business or start ups to raise it. 

    I haven't see very many commercials on the Amendment for medical marijuana recently but I am sure there will be ads soon up.  

    My local news paper, Sarasota Herald Tribune, has set up a Medical Marijuana site.  They did this just a couple of days ago.   The newspaper has been running a series of reports on this subject.  Michael Pollick has been the lead reporter, traveling around the country gathering information.  The Herald has put all the articles and also other ones written by other journalist from around the state on this easy to indexed site.  

    http://marijuana.heraldtribune.com/?tc=ar2   

    I was surprised to learn from one article that Colorado is not bringing in the tax revenue that they expected.  They are selling more marijuana then expected but it has mostly been medical, which has a lower tax on it then the recreational that is taxed higher.  Only 9% of the population uses it on a monthly bases.  Well I guess we all won't turn into pot heads if recreational cannabis gets legalized?  Could it be that much of the pot sold on the street is being used for self medication?  

    http://marijuana.heraldtribune.com/2014/07/23/colorado-marijuana-demand-higher-expected-tax-revenues-lower/ 

    Quinnipiac University did a pole in May that showed that 88% of the voters supported Amendment 2. This is a issue that transcends party politics. Will this bring out supporters to vote in November?  I sure hope so. 

    http://marijuana.heraldtribune.com/2014/07/18/numbers-florida-marijuana-campaign/

    I also learned that the old plant 6 of Welcraft Boat Co. has been sold to an Arizona company that plans to grow medical marijuana in the building. It is only a couple of miles down the road from me.  My son used to work there before it closed. 

    http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140420/ARTICLE/304209993?tc=ar

    There are many more articles about what is happening across the country with marijuana. I am very glad to see this shift away from the prohibition of the growing and using marijuana.  It is a good step in rethinking the war on drugs. 

     

     

     

    Comments

    Thanks for this, momoe, it's a very important subject that deserves attention. And hats off to your local paper for devoting time and resources on a continuing basis. Hopefully it will help bring about a resounding "yes!" in November.


    by barefooted on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 12:52am

    This has been an issue for a while here in Florida. The war on drugs failed and cause more damage then it was fixing.  Out side of Florida, this amendment is being spun as way to drive voters to the poles to help Democrats win.  It is really an health issue for the chronically ill in this state. Many people don't know the science behind all the products that this plant produces. 

    A few years ago the St. Pete Times and the Tampa Tribune merged together as a non profit trust. A similar formula that the English paper The Guardian has.  It is now the Tampa Bay Times. This has lead to one of the leading papers in the country.  It is now the largest paper in the state and has been doing some real reporting. Tampa Bay is like a dog with a bone when it comes to the state capital. I see references to it all the time on line. This has rubbed off on the small paper in my town.  It has two issues, one for Sarasota and one for Bradenton. The reporter has traveled out west and other states that have legalized medical marijuana to find out what their mistakes have been and what has really worked well in their programs. His reports then got noticed outside of the state and this week they gathered some of it on a web site with articles from other papers.  Maybe this will lead to a formula that will bring in revenue for this paper.  

    Show this paper some love and click through the four pages of articles on this subject. We need to support better news media.

     


    by trkingmomoe on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 10:06am

    I would "assume" the medical usage wouldn't be enough to sustain a vibrate number of suppliers all competing with one another for the consumer dollar, so I suspect recreational usage would be an important and necessary secondary sale. So if recreational usage isn't anything near what was anticipated, medical mj may just be that, but with a limited number of suppliers and at a substantial cost.

     

    Then again, if the demand is too soft and there are few suppliers, the next step would be to allow home grown pot as long as it is for personal/medical use.

     

    I can't help but laugh at the irony of it all !!!!

     

    Pot is finally legal and no one is going up in smoke about it !


    by Beetlejuice on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 2:02pm

    If you take a look at the report by Colorado Marijuana Market Report, there is a couple of interesting things that I missed the first time skimming through it.  The sales tax in Denver for medical Mj was 7.62% and 21.12% for retail Mj consumers. Not all jurisdictions in Colorado sold retail Mj but only sold medical Mj.  

    To get medical Mj you have to apply for a $15 red card to purchase it that way.  So it is cheaper for the medical consumer who would not be in a hurry to move into the retail market for it. They would continue with their doctor appointments to keep their card.  The report says it did not survey eatables and oils. That will be in their report in December. This is where the use of children and seriously ill consumption would show.  Most of it is sold for chronic pain and spasms.

    It is important to note that individuals can raise up to 6 plants a year for personal use.  Colorado is very rural and they estimate that 5 metric tons of it is being consumed from that source. Most of the out of state retail Mj is sold in Denver and mountain resorts.  

    With reports like this coming out of Colorado, there is really no good basis to keep up the prohibition of Mj.  It would be cheaper to regulate it then criminalize it.  

     


    by trkingmomoe on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 5:59pm

    mmmm...TONS

     

     


    by jollyroger on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 6:44pm

    They expect to sell 130 metric tons, enough to roll 300 million joints this year. They are still making a nice chunk of revenue on this for the state. 


    by trkingmomoe on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 7:21pm

    What I find odd is neither the casual recreational user nor the hard-nose anti-drug thugs are even interested. That should be a signal to the Feds there's been a social society change they need to amend the law to accommodate. 


    by Beetlejuice on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 9:06pm

    It makes me wonder about how much information spread around by politics was actually over blown about drug abuse. The reality is that there are medical uses for the drug that out weigh the prohibition of it's sale and use. Society is demanding the changes in the law. 


    by trkingmomoe on Fri, 07/25/2014 - 9:39pm

    I suppose in about 20 years someone will do a documentary on MJ and identify who was responsible for outlawing it and how they were able to manipulate the legal beagles

     

    Watching the video which answers what I just wrote


    by Beetlejuice on Sat, 07/26/2014 - 2:07pm

    Something that was left out was the support that DuPont and Hirsch had for out lawing the growing of hemp. Hirsch had bought pine stands for his newspaper production and DuPont wanted to sell his nylon rope. It was all out lawed at the same time. They wanted to put hemp production out business.  


    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 07/26/2014 - 6:26pm

    Here is the story behind Charlotte Web Mj.  

     

    by trkingmomoe on Sat, 07/26/2014 - 10:57am