Pubdate: Fri, 07 Feb 2014 Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Copyright: 2014 Sun-Sentinel Company Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/mVLAxQfA Website: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/159 BILL WOULD LEGALIZE ' CHARLOTTE'S WEB' TALLAHASSEE- After a month of discussions, House Criminal Justice Chairman Matt Gaetz, R- Fort Walton Beach, filed a measure Thursday that would legalize a marijuana extract known as "Charlotte's Web" that proponents believe can dramatically reduce seizures in children with a rare form of epilepsy. The federal Food and Drug Administration has not approved the product but supporters say it reduces seizures in children and adults diagnosed with a form of epilepsy that does not respond to other treatments. Some Republican lawmakers are concerned that support for Charlotte's Web could be confused with support for a medical marijuana proposal on the ballot in November. The measure ( HB 843) would legalize all forms of cannabis that contain 0.5 percent or less of tetrahydrocannabinol ( THC) and more than 15 percent of cannabidiol, along with the resin extracted from the plant. Gaetz's proposal would also make it legal to manufacture the compound. Because it has such a small amount of THC, Charlotte's Web users do not get high, unlike the marijuana that patients with severe illnesses could get with a prescription from doctors under the proposed amendment. News Service of Florida - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom