Pubdate: Thu, 28 Feb 2013
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2013 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact: http://www.heraldtribune.com/sendletter
Website: http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Billy Cox

PARRISH POT SEIZURE SWINGS FOCUS TO STATE BATTLE

PARRISH - Four days after lobbying Tallahassee lawmakers to legalize 
marijuana for medicinal purposes, an activist couple were busted by 
police for growing pot at their home in Parrish.

Manatee County deputies uprooted two full-grown backyard marijuana 
plants belonging to wheelchair-bound Cathy Jordan, who suffers from 
Lou Gehrig's disease, and disabled Vietnam veteran Robert Jordan. 
Although neither was arrested Monday, officers confiscated 21 
seedlings that the Jordans insist were intended to stabilize her 
neurodegenerative disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

"They explained to me that they had no choice because it's the law," 
Robert said Wednesday. "Well, guess what? I've got no choice in the 
matter, too. We're going head-to-head now and one of us is going to 
fall. And if it's me, somebody else is going to step up.

"They've come and taken away the medicine that's been keeping my wife 
alive for 20 years," he said. "I'm not going to let my wife die, and 
anybody who loves somebody would do the same thing."

Just last week, the Jordans met with legislative Democrats, who 
agreed to back a 138-page bill called the Cathy Jordan Medical 
Cannabis Act. Sponsored by Rep. Katie Edwards, D-Plantation, and Sen. 
Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, this marks the first time in at least 30 
years that a bill to legalize the drug has been filed in Florida. If 
the measure is passed, Florida will become the 19th state and the 
first in the South to sanction marijuana for medical reasons.

Found to have ALS in 1986, and given a five-year survival window by 
doctors, Cathy Jordan began smoking marijuana in 1989 and says it has 
succeeded where prescription drugs have not.

But the Jordans' elation over their symbolic victory in Tallahassee 
began to fade on Monday, when a housing inspector reported them to police.

According to the sheriff's report, Sonya Leigh Johnson was assessing 
the vacant home next door when she noticed an extension cord running 
from an open window toward the Jordans' home. She peeked through the 
backyard fence, saw the plants, took photos and reported the scene to 
the Sheriff's Office.

Uniformed deputies showed up at the Jordans' home Monday afternoon, 
followed by three undercover detectives, two wearing ski masks. John 
Jordan, their 43-year-old son, said that utility service at the home 
next door was in the Jordans' name because the Jordans were planning 
to close on the house purchase this week.

"We had no idea about their involvement in the medical marijuana 
bill," said sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow. "The only reason we 
responded was because somebody complained."

No one was arrested because "there was some question as to ownership 
of the marijuana plants."

"I think they were embarrassed," said Cathy Jordan, director of the 
Florida Cannabis Action Network. "I don't think they wanted to put a 
62-year-old woman in a wheelchair with Lou Gehrig's disease in jail."

The Sarasota State Attorney's Office declined to comment on whether 
it will file charges.

"Is this really the best use of our law enforcement's time?" asked 
Clemens, the Democrat sponsoring the proposed legislation. "I think 
the public would be much better served by changing the law to allow 
our police to concentrate on violent criminals, not senior citizens 
in wheelchairs."

Changing times

Sponsoring a pot legalization bill under any circumstances was once 
seen as political suicide in Florida.

The legislation is unlikely to pass this year, co-sponsor Edwards 
concedes, but she predicted "that this is going to happen in the next 
four to five years in Florida and I would rather be in front on this 
issue than behind it."

Edwards and other supporters point to a poll released this week, 
commissioned by People United for Medical Marijuana-Florida, that 
showed 70 percent of voters sampled supported legalization for 
medical reasons. The poll of 600 registered voters across the state 
was evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

"Perceptions are changing. It's time to have an adult conversation 
about this in Florida," said Edwards, who met Cathy Jordan for the 
first time last week.

"You look in the eyes of this incredibly feeble woman and you cannot 
help but have compassion for her," Edwards said. "She would gladly 
give up marijuana if she could get out of her wheelchair and be free 
of Lou Gehrig's disease. But she is suffering and this gives her some 
relief. How is Cathy Jordan using marijuana any threat to me?"

Ben Pollara, a spokesman for People United for Medical 
Marijuana-Florida, called it "grotesque" that seriously ill 
Floridians who use marijuana should be subject to police raids.

"If anything," Pollara said, "this will steel support because people 
understand how wrong it is that people like Cathy Jordan have to go 
through something like this when they are suffering so much already," 
Pollara said.

Edwards acknowledged that current laws put police in difficult 
positions and that her bill will allow authorities to focus more 
resources on threats that really matter to Floridians.

Pollara said he has little confidence that the Republican-dominated 
Legislature will pass the Jordan bill. Instead, his organization is 
pushing an alternative route - gathering signatures to put the 
question on a constitutional ballot. The group is still a long way 
off. It says it has gathered 100,000, but needs to have 676,811 
validated by Feb. 1, 2014, to place the question on next year's 
ballot. Even if it gets that far, it would require 60 percent of 
Florida voters to approve it.

But Pollara, who has worked for 10 years on political campaigns, 
including Hillary Rodham Clinton's in Florida, said the poll was a 
game-changer because it shows national and state donors that there is 
popular support in Florida for medical marijuana.

Edwards said the state also has economic reasons for passing the Jordan act.

States such as Colorado could generate millions in tax revenue from 
pot. It could also be a boon for Florida farmers, she said.

Staff writer David Hackett contributed to this report.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom