Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster
The group leading the charge to oppose the medical marijuana constitutional amendment is vowing to defeat it come November.
In an email, Tre’ Evers, a spokesman for No on 2, said the organization will “once again get the truth out to Florida voters with a campaign to defeat this deceptive and dangerous amendment.”
“This so-called ‘medical marijuana’ amendment is just like the one voters defeated last election. It legalizes pot smoking in Florida under the cynical guise of helping sick people,” Evers said in a statement. “Marijuana is not medicine; it is an illegal and dangerous drug. The fact is that wherever pot smoking has been legalized under the guise of ‘medical marijuana’ it has proven to be a farce, a ruse, defacto legalization.”
On Wednesday, United for Care, the group behind the effort legalize medical marijuana, announced it had received enough signatures to get on the November 2016 ballot. The issue will be Amendment 2 on the ballot, the same spot it held on the 2014 ballot.
“Compassion is coming,” said John Morgan, chairman of United for Care, in a statement Wednesday. “This November, Florida will pass this law and hundreds of thousands of sick and suffering people will see relief. What Tallahassee politicians refused to do, the people will do together in this election.”
The Division of Elections on Wednesday reported it verified 692,981 signatures. The campaign needed to get 683,149 valid signatures for it to be on the ballot.
“Nothing in this amendment regulates the high potency and dangerous elements of pot. In fact, this amendment continues to allow crude, street-grade pot to be sold without FDA approval or a doctor’s prescription,” Evers said. “This amendment even allows most high school seniors to legally purchase marijuana on their own.”
Evers said the proposal allows “pot-laced candy, lollipops, gummy bears and other edible forms of pot clearly designed to encourage kids to use marijuana.”
A similar amendment on the 2014 ballot received 58 percent of the vote, just short of the 60 percent needed to become law.
“As Florida voters learn more about this dangerous Trojan horse we are confident they will again Vote No on 2,” Evers said.
