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
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom