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AS GOVERNMENT DRAGS ITS FEET, VOTERS MOVE ON MEDICAL POT

After utterly failing to bring relief even to children with severe epilepsy through a non-narcotic form of marijuana, Florida officials fully deserve the wrath of voters who are on the way to taking matters into their own hands - with a constitutional amendment that would make marijuana available for a wide range of debilitating medical conditions.

The medical marijuana amendment has gained enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot.  It is sponsored by the same folks who fell just short with a similar amendment in 2014.  Then, the measure got 58 percent of the vote.  This time - in a higher-turnout, presidential election year - the chances of gaining the needed 60 percent seem in the bag.

Organizer John Morgan, the Orlando attorney bankrolling the effort, sure thinks so.  While his 2014 effort focused on the young-person vote, this year he'll educate seniors.  They are a natural constituency for a measure allowing people with cancer, glaucoma and other serious, common afflictions to ask their doctor to prescribe medical marijuana, a remedy that is rapidly losing the stigma it once had.

Unlike 2014, Attorney General Pam Bondi has not come out against the amendment.  Proponents tightened 2014 language that had been depicted as "loopholes" by opponents who feared the spread of drug use.

A solid 68 percent of Florida voters surveyed last July said they are willing to vote yes to medical marijuana, according to a survey by St.  Pete Polls.

"If we can pass this, 400,000 really sick and terminally ill people will benefit from day one," Morgan said recently.

We are on record as saying that adding a medical-marijuana clause to the Florida Constitution is a poor way to govern.  Statutory solutions are always preferable for addressing fast-moving and often volatile issues like this one.  But the Legislature shows no sign of moving at anywhere near the pace of the popular will.

In 2014 lawmakers passed, and Gov.  Rick Scott signed, a "Charlotte's Web" law, which legalizes the use of a non-euphoric strain of marijuana of that name to treat dire conditions such as epilepsy, ALS and cancer.  Yet sufferers with these conditions have seen not a drop of the promised drug while an achingly slow bureaucratic and regulatory process trudges along.

Charlotte's Web was supposed to be available a year ago.  But three judges had to wade through 30,000 pages of applications to select five vendors to grow, process and distribute the newly legal weed, in different parts of the state.  The process survived two legal challenges.  But just last week, three of the losing nurseries filed suit to at least temporarily block competitors from starting production.  And so the medication is still months away.

Last week , a state Senate committee passed a bill ( SB 460 ) that would OK medical marijuana for people with terminal illnesses.  Tellingly, most of the debate would dwell on the delays with Charlotte's Web.  Sens.  Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, and Joseph Abruzzo, D-Boynton Beach, proposed amendments to speed up the 2014 regulatory framework, such as boosting the number of vendors.  But as Sen.  Gwen Margolis, D-Miami, said, the state is "not there yet." The amendments lost.

Twenty-three states permit medical cannabis use, and three more are poised to advance medical laws this year.  We bet that will be four more, as Florida voters do what their government is too timid to do: make it legal for people with debilitating illness to ease their pain, nausea, appetite loss or anxiety.