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.
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MAP posted-by: Matt