Well, let's see, citizens have been asking the Florida Legislature to legalize it for at least a decade - and legislators said no. There was a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November, put there via citizen initiative. Months before the election, it polled at 78 percent, with support across party lines, age, race and gender. Legislative leaders came out publicly against it. Anti-drug crusaders formed a political action committee and hit up Daddy Warbucks - Sheldon Adelson - for millions to fund their effort. [continues 662 words]
One big story to come out of the recent elections was the medical marijuana effort failing to reach the 60 percent needed for passage. To hear the pundits, opponents and media tell it, the defeat was devastating for an effort that looked certain to pass early on. Let's look at what transpired. Attorney John Morgan initiated the difficult and costly task of putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot, drafting the amendment language, getting through the court review of the ballot title and summary, obtaining enough petition signatures and getting the signatures validated. [continues 590 words]
Amendment 2, Florida's A-proposed medical A-marijuana measure, failed on Election Day. And deservedly so. The state constitutional change advocated by A-Orlando lawyer John Morgan, and largely financed with $6.5 million out of Morgan's own wallet, was fraught with more holes than a fish net. Critics overcame the proposal's widespread, even at times overwhelming, support by honing in on three little words: "or other conditions." That vague and subjective language appeared at the end of the list of serious, and assuredly debilitating, diseases medical marijuana would be utilized to treat. Morgan's foes, such as Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, made a credible case that such wording would fuel all kinds of mischief, if not harm. [continues 616 words]
As Election Day approaches, we are being fed a ton of information and misinformation regarding Amendment 2 (medical marijuana). It all boils down to the following facts: Will passage of the amendment make it easier for people who have no medical need to obtain marijuana? Almost certainly. Although illegal, is the use of marijuana very widespread in Florida? Yes, it is. Is our health care system overwhelmed with people suffering physical ailments from the use of marijuana? Not at all. Are our highways death traps because of people using marijuana? There is no indication that this is the case. [continues 66 words]
John Morgan's editorial, "John Morgan Not Giving Up on Sheriff Judd," certainly has one thing right — Grady Judd is a great sheriff. Sheriff Judd has always been a community-focused man and has continually put the safety and well-being of the Polk County community and its residents first. I know this because I am a lifelong resident of Polk County, and I am glad that Sheriff Judd has taken such an outspoken stance against Amendment 2, which will be on the ballot this November. I believe the Sheriff took this stance because when he looked under Amendment 2's hood, all he could see was an Amendment that was so plagued with loopholes that it would end up not only hurting his community, but communities across the state of Florida, instead of helping the sick. [continues 409 words]
The Ledger is to be commended for providing a public forum to openly discuss the issue of legalizing medical (not recreational) marijuana in Florida. It is a lesson in public governance and rhetorical discourse unlike no other in recent memory and deserves to be a part of every high school social studies, American government and perhaps even English class in the entire state. I am writing simply to share two sources that I have found to be especially thought-provoking on the subject. [continues 252 words]
ORLANDO (AP) - The worst day of John Morgan's life was when his brother snapped his neck diving into a Walt Disney World lagoon while working as a lifeguard. It left him a quadriplegic. That day also set Morgan, the man behind Florida's medical marijuana ballot initiative, on a course that would make him a wealthy and locally famous personal injury lawyer. Morgan, then an undergraduate student, watched as Disney's lawyers successfully fought his brother at every turn. When the case eventually boiled down to a worker's compensation claim, even then the big corporation beat the little guy. Instead of settling, Disney said Tim Morgan could still work as a resort telephone operator on the graveyard shift. [continues 921 words]
Early polling shows that a ballot initiative to allow the use of medical marijuana should pass in the November general election. But it has become clear this month that supporters of the constitutional amendment proposal will face organized opposition in their bid to win approval from 60 percent on the voters. The Vote No on 2 Campaign, which is being directed by veteran media consultant Sarah Bascom, is stepping up its criticism of Amendment 2. "Amendment 2 is simply a guise to legalize pot smoking in Florida and the goal of this campaign is to point out the loopholes and explain why this amendment is bad for Florida," the group said in announcing its coalition that includes law enforcement members, business leaders, doctors, parents and others. [continues 708 words]
Editorial columnist Andres Oppenheimer's opinion on Uruguay's decision to not tax marijuana ["Uruguay Is Wrong About Not Taxing Pot," May 9] reflects a narrow, capitalistic approach to a highly complex issue. The idea behind Uruguay's legalization is that when the veil of prohibition is lifted the stigma is released and usage decreases. Government taxation of marijuana via the IMSEI tax would send the wrong message: that government is indirectly advocating the sale of marijuana because of the potential benefits from tax revenue. [continues 154 words]
Why am I opposed to legalizing marijuana? When my 18-year-old son was introduced to marijuana, the changes in his personality ruined his life. He became a lazy, moody, insensitive, belligerent stranger, eventually borrowing a car and was killed in a car accident. Sheriff Grady Judd has spoken strongly against this issue, describing it as "a wolf in sheep's clothing and gateway to stronger drugs." He certainly should know. Businessmen are readying themselves to provide for huge medical-marijuana business even before ballots are counted. [continues 222 words]
SEMINOLE - Sheriff Bob Gualtieri helped Pinellas County struggle through the dark days of prescription drug "pill mills," when shady clinics doled out lethal opiates just for the asking. State and local authorities finally cracked down, but Gualtieri fears that legalizing medical marijuana would reopen those floodgates with a new drug of choice. "We're going to be right back to the problems we just dealt with, with pill mills," he told an audience Thursday night at St. Petersburg College. In Oregon, he said, just nine doctors certified 28,000 people as needing medical marijuana. At that rate, even a $200 exam would generate $5.6 million. [continues 404 words]
Commonsense reforms to drug laws have been rare in the Florida Legislature, but it appears that lawmakers couldn't ignore children being deprived of seizure medication. Children who have intractable epileptic seizures benefit from a marijuana extract known as Charlotte's Web. Bills in the state Senate and House would legalize the substance, including a measure introduced last week by Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island (south of Jacksonville). The sensitivity around the subject led Bradley to send a letter reassuring his constituents. [continues 398 words]
TALLAHASSEE - State Sen. Jeff Clemens filed Florida's first medical marijuana bill while he was in the Florida House in 2011. "It went nowhere," said Clemens, a Lake Worth Democrat. "It never received a hearing - and I received a lot of snickers and laughs." For the next two years, Clemens filed bills, including a comprehensive package in 2013 that also had a House sponsor. Clemens said the best he got was a discussion from Senate committee chairmen about holding a workshop on the bill. [continues 1191 words]
Twenty years ago this month, U.S. authorities helped bring down Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, but Washington's global war on drugs has not let up. In fact, it has become costlier, bloodier, more widespread and futile. Escobar died in a hail of bullets Dec. 2, 1993, fleeing from police on a rooftop in his native city of Medellin. It took a 3,000-strong elite force of Colombian police - supported by U.S. intelligence agencies and $73 million in aid that year alone - to bring down the drug baron. [continues 198 words]
LEAP salutes the move by the Uruguay Government in legalizing marijuana Legalizing Marijuana to Fight Crime MONTEVIDEO - Uruguay is legalizing marijuana. A bill that would legalize and regulate marijuana, putting it under strict governmental control, passed the Uruguayan Senate today after passing the lower house of parliament in July. President Jose Mujica, who proposed the bill as part of a crime-fighting package, has said that trafficking of any drug is usually more harmful than the drug itself, and will sign it in the next few days. [continues 340 words]
LAKELAND - A suddenly deep-pocketed campaign by People United for Medical Marijuana could reinvigorate an effort to legalize medical marijuana in Florida and put a constitutional amendment in front of voters in 2014. And some Polk County law enforcement agencies already are opposing the idea. Sheriff Grady Judd, who is the Florida Sheriff's Association vice president and never shy about taking a political stance, said he plans to fight any effort to legalize medical marijuana. If the campaign for an amendment were successful, Florida would follow 18 states and the District of Columbia in legalizing medical marijuana. Most concerns about legalization focus on dispensaries that distribute marijuana to patients with certain illnesses. [continues 959 words]
If Gov. Rick Scott and Florida legislative leaders would get over their obsession with privatizing prisons, perhaps they might focus on the real cause of Florida's runaway correction spending. This state locks too many people up for too long. A succession of "get tough on crime" mandatory minimum sentencing laws are primarily responsible for a state incarceration rate that is 26 percent higher than the national average. An Associated Press report this month cited the case of a man serving a mandatory five-year prison sentence for possession of a handful of Lortab tablets, "prescription-only pills containing a small amount of a controlled substance but mostly made up of the same ingredient found in Tylenol and similar over-the-counter painkillers." [continues 200 words]
Florida banned the sale and possession of a class of designer drugs - - misleadingly marketed as "bath salts" - with little fanfare this year. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an emergency order in January, temporarily banning MDPV, one of the chemicals found in some of the products. The Legislature subsequently passed a bill that permanently makes it illegal to distribute or possess bath salts laced with MDPV or one of five other man-made chemicals. Gov. Rick Scott signed the legislation in late May. [continues 564 words]
I do not object to drug testing TANF [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] applicants on a privacy-based theory. I only disapprove of the this measure as a wasted effort to keep taxpayers' money out of the hands of drug addicts. With the prevalence of substance abuse among all demographics, from the senator's son to the farmer's daughter, it is conceivable that we support someone's habit with every dollar we pay for goods and services ranging from Los Cubanitos sandwich platters to handmade Amish fireplaces. If Gov. Rick Scott's measure does, in fact, contribute to anyone's recovery from addiction, I would praise his ability to accomplish a goal that has evaded most social welfare professionals. Lakeland [end]
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered California to release 30,000 inmates, ruling that conditions at its overcrowded prisons amounted to cruel-and-unusual punishment. Can the same thing happen in Florida? Probably. With 102,000 inmates, Florida has the third-largest penal system in America. Florida locks up inmates at a rate of 559 per 100,000 residents. That's actually higher than California's 457 inmates per 100,000 population. Gov. Rick Scott and state lawmakers seem to think the solution to overcrowded prisons is privatization -- one of the largest prison-privatization programs in U.S. history. [continues 216 words]
