John Morgan posts video endorsing Andrew Gillum, mainly over marijuana

Orlando lawyer and medical marijuana champion John Morgan posted a video on social media Friday morning declaring his full support for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum and attacking Gov. Rick Scott and Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron DeSantis, mainly over marijuana.

“Electing this guy [Gillum] is so critical to everything marijuana in Florida,” Morgan declares in the five-minute a video on Twitter.

For decades Morgan was a big-time supporter of Democrats and Democratic causes. Last year he disavowed the Democratic Party, saying he was frustrated with both political parties and politics in general, and intended to become an independent. He still hasn’t, and still is registered as a Democrat, though he said earlier this week that’s just a matter of his not filing the paperwork yet.

In the video, he starts out trying to establish bipartisan credentials by expressing his support for Republican incoming state Senate President Bill Galvano and Republican incoming state Speaker of the House José Oliva.

From there, Morgan launches attacks on Scott, the two-term Republican Governor running for the U.S. Senate. In Morgan’s words, Scott is doing everything he can to thwart implementation of the state’s medical marijuana laws.

Morgan then goes after DeSantis.

“This fellow Ron DeSantis, he is a carbon copy of Rick Scott. His policies are exactly Rick Scott’s policies. The only difference between Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott is DeSantis is a lot shorter and has got a full head of hair. But everything about them is the same,” Morgan says.

“And who is going to lose? Really, really sick people. The veterans with PTSD, first responders, and the people who died in our midst. It has been a crime to watch this happen,” Morgan continues. “With Andrew Gillum, that won’t be the case. If we elect Andrew Gillum Governor, we are going to get the medical marijuana laws we voted on, day one, 71 percent of us.”

Morgan led the campaign to get medical marijuana legalization approved as an amendment to the Florida Consitution in 2016 and has battled with the Scott administration since on implementation of the law, including a lawsuit, now in appeal, to allow patients with medical marijuana cards to smoke marijuana.

Early on in his primary campaign, Gillum declared his support not just for medical marijuana but for legalization in Florida of recreational marijuana use. DeSantis has expressed concerns over the medical marijuana program and opposition to legalization.

With Gillum as Governor, Morgan declares in the video, “Smoke will be allowed. Have trouble getting a [medical] marijuana [authorization] card? No more. We’re going to fast track that.

“Even things like the full legalization of marijuana will be championed by this Governor, and people’s lives will not be ruined by being arrested for possession of marijuana, and our police officers can get out and be allowed to do real work, and people’s lives won’t be upended for life over a small arrest for a small amount of marijuana,” Morgan says in the video.

He doesn’t stop there. Morgan goes on to accuse DeSantis of being for billionaires, and says Gillum will fight for “the helpless, the hopeless, the powerless.”

“I am voting for  Andrew Gillum because he is the person that will put people first, he believes what I believe and what I believe is that every day our Governor should get up and fight like hell, not for the richest among us, not for the billionaires, but fight like hell for the people,” Morgan concludes.