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
Author: Frank Cerabino
Page: B1

READY TO TAKE THE HIGH ROAD ON POT, GOV. SCOTT?

Gov. Rick Scott is going to have to embrace pot smoking. That became
clear this week when the Florida Supreme Court removed the last hurdle
that could have kept a medicinal marijuana referendum off the November
ballot.

Scott's attorney general, Pam Bondi, had tried in vain to keep the
issue off the ballot by claiming it would be too confusing for voters
to consider the 74-word question.

But the court, in a narrow 4-3 decision, approved the ballot wording,
which is a huge boost for Charlie Crist, who is hoping to be the
Democratic nominee running against Scott in November.

It's more than a coincidence that the main force behind the medicinal
marijuana issue is Crist's political patron, John Morgan, an
Orlando-based personal injury lawyer who put up at least $ 2.7 million
to launch the successful petition drive supporting the referendum.

Morgan cites as his motivation the relief his cancer-stricken father
and paralyzed brother found through medicinal marijuana.

But Crist, who went to work for Morgan after losing his bid for U.S.
Senate, is the guy who is getting the most relief from Morgan's ballot
engineering.

A Quinnipiac University poll found that 82 percent of surveyed Florida
voters approve of medicinal marijuana. And Crist is eagerly
volunteering to be their pie-eyed piper.

"This is an issue of compassion, trusting doctors and trusting the
people of Florida," Crist said.

But medicinal marijuana is really about recreational
marijuana.

The Florida referendum allows doctors to prescribe marijuana as
medicine for any condition "for which the physician believes that
medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health
risks for a patient."

That makes medicinal marijuana a legal vehicle for young, healthy
people to smoke pot without fear of prosecution. In other
medical-marijuana states, most prescriptions aren't written for such
age-related debilitating diseases as Parkinson's disease, glaucoma or
cancer. They're written for headaches, dizziness, anxiety and as a
sleep aid.

In Arizona, the highest percentage of medicinal marijuana patients are
between the ages of 18 and 30.

This is bad news for Scott, whose recipe for success in November
hinges on a low-turnout election that centers on the issue of job creation.

He's against medicinal marijuana. But he's treading carefully on the
topic, hoping not to make it a campaign issue.

"I have a great deal of empathy for people battling difficult
diseases, and I understand arguments in favor of this initiative," he
said. "But, having seen the terrible effects of alcohol and drug abuse
first-hand, I cannot endorse sending Florida down this path, and I
would personally vote against it.

"No matter my personal beliefs, however, a ballot initiative would be
up to the voters to decide."

Voting against it, but leaving it up to the voters?

That's not going to be strong enough to win over the legions of
apolitical, but suddenly motivated, marijuana voters who will show up
to vote in November looking for an advocate in Tallahassee.

Say goodbye to a low-turnout election focused on job creation. Unless.
Unless Scott suddenly evolves on marijuana and goes even further than
Crist on the subject.

That's right. Scott needs to have a sudden epiphany, one that leads
him to call for joining Colorado and Washington in making marijuana
legal for recreational use in Florida.

It's not even a big stretch.

All he needs to do is embrace his libertarian roots and take his
thinking a little more to the political right, where the legalization
of marijuana has long been endorsed.

It's a freedom issue. Getting the big, oppressive federal government
off our backs. States' rights. Blah, blah, blah. Scott already knows
the talking points from his opposition to the federal health care law.

He can come to think of his position shift on marijuana as taking the
high road.

If not, the Florida Supreme Court may have just sealed his political
doom in November.
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MAP posted-by: Matt