Pubdate: Fri, 06 Dec 2013 Source: Florida Current, The (FL) Email: http://www.thefloridacurrent.com/ Copyright: 2013 LobbyTools, Inc. Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5473 Author: James Call MEDICAL MARIJUANA SPONSOR SAYS LAWMAKERS ARE OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE PEOPLE John Morgan stood on the steps of the Florida Supreme Court, looked across the street at the state Capitol and spoke about the Tallahassee political establishment opposing a citizen's initiative to allow sick people to smoke marijuana. "Who are these people? Why are they drawing a salary?" Morgan said. Morgan is bankrolling the petition drive to get the proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2014 ballot. Florida's Attorney General, Senate President and House Speaker argue the proposed ballot language is misleading and should not go before voters. "I think it's OK for the Attorney General to take a critical look at a proposed constitutional amendment," said University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith. "That is her job. Florida is very exacting" about ballot placement rules. Smith, though, agreed with Morgan that there is a disconnect between the people of Florida and their elected leaders who meet in the Capitol. A Quinnipiac poll last week found Floridians support the medical marijuana initiative by an 82-to-16 percent margin. Legislative leaders not only don't want it on the ballot, they have refused to hear a proposed bill addressing the subject during the past three legislative sessions. "They wouldn't even hear testimony. They wouldn't let Sanjay Gupta come down here and testify," Morgan said. "The crew we got here won't even let us hear testimony. Won't even let a doctor come up and say 'Here's what's going on in Israel; here's what I think.' Here's the medicine. Here's the facts, won't even let us hear that. What are they here for?" Morgan could have cited any one of a bushel of issues instead of marijuana to make his point. Polls indicate 62 percent of Floridians support Medicaid expansion, a component of the chief policy accomplishment of a president who won Florida's popular vote twice. About 90 percent of Floridians support universal background checks on gun purchases and 51 percent support stricter gun control laws. Lawmakers not only refused to act, they prohibited local governments from passing any gun regulations. Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, said at least two things are at play here. "To the degree that legislators are doing their job as representatives who are studying and thinking about these issues and trying to do what they think is right (even if a majority of residents disagree), this is healthy (for) democracy. The legislators are acting as trustees," Jewett said. "But the second thing at work is much less healthy for democracy in our state," he said. "The Republican Party has become so dominant in the state Legislature over the past 16 years that the conservative majority within the Republican Party is not necessarily representative of what the majority of Floridians want." In 2010, the House and Senate leaders, in addition to publicly lecturing the citizen sponsor of the Fair Districts amendments at a hearing, went to Court to block the initiative. It passed with 62 percent of voter approval. Since 2008, voters have rejected 11 of 13 Legislature-sponsored constitutional amendment proposals. Since 1976, though, voters have approved more than 80 percent of citizen-sponsored initiatives. The national average is 41 percent. "You don't get those numbers if there isn't a disjuncture between the elected officials and ordinary citizens," Smith said. "They are able to get supermajorities in the Legislature to put them on the ballot and then a supermajority of citizens' vote against them in the general election. (So) Who are they listening to?" The medical marijuana proposal was written by former House Speaker Jon Mills who also once served as the Dean of the University of Florida Law School. Opponents accused him of engaging in "wordsmithing" to hide the amendment's true intent. Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford characterized it as a "pathway" to marijuana shops sprouting on every street corner. "Any statement that the initiative would allow unfettered use of medical marijuana would itself be misleading to voters," Mills said. Since California voters approved a medical marijuana citizen initiative in 1996, 20 other states have either legalized marijuana or approved its use for medical reasons. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt