Guest AuthorFirst of two parts.
We value our First Amendment rights, so I was surprised at the reactions I received when I mentioned the topic of this piece to colleagues, friends and family.
They had suggested that I pick a different subject so that I would not offend potential employers and contractors. I suspect proponents of other controversial positions received similar reactions when they advocated interracial and gay marriage, the repeal of Prohibition, and voting rights for African-Americans and women.
However, once these things became legal, they eventually became part of our daily lives. There will always be someone who vehemently disagrees with these things before and after the law or amendment has passed. That’s OK. That’s the beauty of living in a nation with free speech.
So let me say at the onset that I do not use medical marijuana (MMJ).
That said, I know people (some who are very close to me) who don’t use it now, but need it. Really, really need it. Like my wife, who suffers from painful glaucoma. That’s why I support the current efforts to allow Floridians to vote in Nov. 2014 whether to legalize the growing and use of medical marijuana.
To reduce the impact of her glaucoma, my wife has had multiple surgeries and must regularly use ophthalmic drops that increase her heart rate and raise her blood pressure. After 33 years of marriage, our hearts beat as one, and I feel her pain, along with feeling helpless to stop it.
Maybe that is why a recent Quinnipiac Poll showed that 82 percent of Floridians favor a proposed constitutional amendment that would make medical marijuana legal for those with severe debilitating diseases. There were overwhelming majorities in favor of legalization across every demographic. The poll showed that 70 percent of Republicans, 87 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of Independents, 83 percent of men, 80 percent of women, 83 percent of white voters, 80 percent of black voters and 78 percent of Hispanic voters were in favor of it.
The 82 percent includes former Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running as a Democrat in the next gubernatorial campaign. This surprises some because Crist supported laws in 2007 and 2008 that established penalties for possession, owning a grow house or possession with intent to distribute that are the harshest penalties in America.
The penalty of up to five years in prison for one ounce or less of marijuana was more than three times the next harshest penalty (Arizona) with one and a half years. The Marijuana Grow House Eradication Act (HB 173) included a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for cultivating 25 or more plants. The previous threshold was 300 plants.
However, the 82 percent approval along with Crist’s policy shift is not merely a sign of a shift in zeitgeist. The previous laws were about recreational marijuana use and the violence associated with the criminals who usually supplied the drug. For example, while I was working for the Centers for Disease Control in West Palm Beach in 1990, I witnessed a fire in which a cannabis distributor who had failed to pay his Colombian supplier was found burned to death in his yellow Lamborghini. His tongue had been cut out and his fingers cut off.
This proposed amendment is not about that traffic. It is about medical marijuana, which can ease suffering. That’s probably why Crist has called it “an issue of compassion.”
I am certain that quite a few political races will involve candidates who have taken a stand on one side or the other, making this an issue that may control the turnout of the next election.
The Florida market for marijuana is huge. Around 2000, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimated that Florida did not consume a greater amount than any other state. At the time, Florida was the fourth largest state and it claimed 4.63% of the national market share.
However, a lot of pot was grown in the state. The DEA estimated that the annual retail value of the crops grown here was as much as $1,870,000,000.
That illegal marijuana would not have the quality of medical marijuana, but it puts the market into perspective. Marijuana is the largest unregulated and untaxed crop in Florida and vast additional amounts are smuggled into the state from other countries.
Establishing regulated and taxed marijuana dispensaries would impose some control on the state’s marijuana commerce. The state would benefit from the tax revenue and would become a destination in the vast medical tourism market. Florida would be the destination for those in need of a greater quality of life during their time of medical need.
The deadline is rapidly approaching. If you are a registered Florida voter and want to sign the petition, go to www.unitedforcare.org/petition by Jan. 1, 2014.
