Pubdate: Tue, 20 May 2014
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Scott Powers

SHERIFFS DEMINGS, ESLINGER OPPOSE AMENDMENT TO LEGALIZE MEDICAL POT

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings and Seminole Sheriff Don Eslinger 
joined forces Monday to oppose the medical marijuana issue that 
Florida voters will consider in November.

"If it passes it will adversely impact our quality of life," Eslinger 
said, as he and Demings publicly embraced the anti-Amendment 2 
campaign launched last week by the Florida Sheriffs Association.

Orlando lawyer John Morgan, who organized the Amendment 2 campaign, 
has said that some sheriffs and police chiefs privately support 
medical marijuana. But in speaking with the Orlando Sentinel 
editorial board Monday, Demings, a Democrat, and Eslinger, a 
Republican, made it clear they do not.

They criticized what they said are loopholes that could open a 
Florida medical marijuana industry to widespread abuses, allowing pot 
use for almost any ailments.

They envisioned a state with more than 1,700 pot dispensaries and 
minors getting doctors' "recommendations" to smoke marijuana without 
their parents' consents.

Demings said he has seen no convincing scientific research that 
marijuana smoke can be an effective medicine.

"An increase of [legal] use is going to result in an increase of 
abuse," he said.

Last week, Morgan's pro-Amendment 2 campaign, United For Care, 
dismissed similar claims from the Florida Sheriffs Association as 
"half-truths, distortions and outright lies." United For Care insists 
that Amendment 2 authorizes state regulators to stop such abuses, and 
that international research shows marijuana is an effective, 
last-chance treatment for many debilitating illnesses, from cancer to epilepsy.

"The sheriffs' opposition to Amendment 2 is grounded in politics and 
scare tactics," United For Care Campaign Manager Ben Polarra said 
Monday. "Passing Amendment 2 will bring relief to sick and suffering 
Floridians. Period."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom