Pubdate: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 Source: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) Copyright: 2014 The Palm Beach Post Contact: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/333 MEDICAL POT VOTE A CHANCE FOR COMPASSION Attitudes About Marijuana Are Changing. It's official: Florida voters will get a chance in November to legalize medical marijuana, a step that would be a compassionate accommodation for many with painful diseases and a move toward more sensible policy regarding the drug's broader use. But supporters of this important initiative should count themselves lucky. The proposed constitutional amendment was poorly worded - some would say deceptively worded - and narrowly escaped being struck from the November ballot by a sharply divided Florida Supreme Court. On Monday, justices approved the ballot language 4-3. In doing so, they gave Florida the chance to join 20 states that already have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, which can include alleviating pain from chemotherapy, treating epileptic seizures in children, and muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis. Last week, state officials announced that the proposal's supporters had attained the 683,149 verified signatures needed to get the referendum on the ballot. That left only the Supreme Court's approval of the ballot language. Across the country, attitudes about marijuana are changing rapidly, and Florida is no exception. Polls indicate a comfortable majority of Floridians now favor legalizing its use for medical purposes. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but the Obama administration has indicated that for now it will not enforce the law in states that legalized its use (Colorado and Washington have permitted it as a recreational drug), so long as it is not sold to children or used as a front for trafficking to other states. President Barack Obama recently went a step further, saying this month in an interview that he believes marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. All of this creates an attractive political environment in which to push for extending access to medical marijuana to Floridians. But it almost didn't happen. The language that will appear on the November ballot is confusing. The amendment summary, put together by a group called United for Care, tells voters they will be voting to allow medical use of marijuana to treat "debilitating diseases," while the actual text amendment permits it for a "debilitating medical condition," a broader term. And the amendment defines medical conditions to include "other conditions" for which the benefits "would likely outweigh the potential health risks." That has the potential to be a broad loophole. Three justices on the state's high court agreed with critics that this discrepancy between the seemingly narrow impact suggested by the ballot summary and the broader impact implicit in the actual amendment was too misleading. In his dissent, Chief Justice Ricky Polston wrote that "despite what the title and summary convey to voters, minor aches and pains, stress, insomnia, or fear of an upcoming flight could qualify for the medical use of marijuana." But the slender majority disagreed, concluding that there was no significant difference between the use of the different terms "disease" and "medical condition," and that what seems like a broad loophole should actually be read as limited to serious illnesses like those named specifically in the amendment. There is certainly a risk that access to medical marijuana will be abused. If the amendment is approved, it may be left to the courts to decide how extensive the right will be. But opening the door to a new treatment option for people in pain is the humane and sensible thing to do. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom