Pubdate: Sat, 29 Jun 2013
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2013 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Scott Powers

REFERENDUM ON MEDICAL POT TAKES FIRST STEP

An effort to get Florida voters to approve the use of medical 
marijuana, led by Orlando lawyer John Morgan, is ready for the state 
Supreme Court to review - a first step toward getting it in front of 
voters on the November 2014 ballot.

Morgan said Friday he has approved final language of a proposed 
ballot initiative that will ask Florida voters to allow marijuana to 
be prescribed for medical use.

The effort, run by an Orlando based group led by Morgan and called 
People United for Medical Marijuana, still has a long way to go to 
get on the ballot. But Morgan said he is ready to send language to 
the Supreme Court for prior approval so the group can begin a petition drive.

The group then must gather 788,000 signatures from registered Florida 
voters who support putting the issue on the ballot. And then there 
are more reviews.

However, sending the language to the Supreme Court, which Morgan said 
would happen late Friday or Monday, is a signal that the effort is 
getting serious, a first for Florida.

"It is carefully crafted so we don't have what people call a 
'California law,' " Morgan said, adding that the intention is to 
avoid loopholes that would allow recreational use of the drug.

The language would allow a physician to prescribe marijuana for 
treatment of severe symptoms or side effects from drugs associated 
with several specific illnesses including cancer, multiple sclerosis 
and amyotrophiclateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. 
It also would allow doctors to prescribe it in other unspecified 
cases involving "life threatening" illnesses.

"This will be regulated by the state. What we wanted to do with our 
language is for the state to understand this is not intended for 
recreational use in any sense," Morgan said.

Currently, two states, Colorado and Washington, have largely 
legalized marijuana. Seventeen others - none of them in the South - 
allow use of some form of the drug as a prescription medicine, 
according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

People United for Medical Marijuana was founded in 2008. It named 
Morgan as its chairman and South Florida Democratic fundraiser Ben 
Pollara as its finance chairman in March. At the time, Morgan told 
the Orlando Sentinel his father's death of esophageal cancer and 
emphysema more than 20 years ago drives his passion for the issue.

"It was a very painful death," Morgan said. "My brother was able to 
get him marijuana, which enabled him to be able to be settled down 
and have a serenity he had not enjoyed until that time. I've seen it 
firsthand."

The group said it is seeking to raise $2.5 million to fund its 
petition drive and campaign.

Through March 31 it had collected $192,000 in cash, including 
$100,000 from Morgan's law firm, and another $32,000 in donated 
services, mostly from Pollara's political action committee, Saving 
Florida's Future.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom