Ben Pollara: Florida can show other states how to regulate medical marijuana

Florida has a long-standing rivalry with the other Sunshine State, California. As a proud Floridian myself, I have to say that this Eastside-Westside beef almost always comes down in favor of the East.

And as the campaign manager for United for Care — the organization advocating for medical marijuana and the passage of Amendment 2 — I look forward to again showing our left-coast rivals that Florida does it better.

California was the first state to pass a medical marijuana law back in 1996. Since then 22 other states and the District of Columbia have passed similar laws. Of the 23 states and DC that have such laws, California is widely considered the example of what not do when putting a medical marijuana law in place.

If Florida passes Amendment 2 this November — which polls show is likely, and by a wide margin — we have the opportunity to again one-up California, as well as the other 22 states that have done this. We can set the standard for what a strong, well-regulated, medical marijuana system can and should look like.

Now I am a political hack, not a policy wonk or lawyer, but during the course of this campaign I have formed some opinions of what this system should be under Amendment 2.

First, let me tell you what it should not be: it should not be California, where the state has failed to implement even a basic set of rules and regulations, leaving municipal governments to take matters into their own hands. Also, it should not be SB1030, the recently passed legislation in Tallahassee that limits non-euphoric medical marijuana (called Charlotte’s Web) to five commercial operations around the state.

Because of the way the amendment is written, it simply cannot look like California, so let us address the faults of SB1030, which some have claimed is laying the groundwork for the implementation of Amendment 2.

In drafting SB1030, the Legislature wisely tried to create a very tightly controlled and regulated system. Unfortunately, they did not think it through as they did so. The law allows for only five licenses across the state. Florida is a state of nearly 20 million residents. The DOH estimates that there are over 400,000 medical marijuana patients under Amendment 2. How would nearly a half a million people, across a geographically enormous state, possibly be served with only five locations? The answer is, they wouldn’t be, at least not adequately.

The counter argument is that those five licensees should be able to have multiple locations, in effect putting in a place a government sanctioned monopoly of the nascent industry. We need only to look to the wireless carriers, cable companies and the U.S. airline industry to see what happens when government tacitly places control of an entire industry in the hands of a few — bad products, bad prices, bad customer service by and large.

What Florida should try to accomplish in implementing Amendment 2 is balance three competing and synergistic concerns: first, safe, affordable, patient access; second, a strong system of regulations from the state that allows local governments to have a say in what is best for their communities; and finally, a robust, commercial enterprise that allows for competition that will serve the primary purpose of patient access.

We’ve still got a ways to go until election day, much less the implementation of a medical marijuana system in Florida, but we have a great opportunity. Florida can do it right, best California once again and set the standard for the 26 states that have not yet passed medical marijuana laws.

Ben Pollara is a political hack and the campaign manager for United for Care, the organization advocating for the passage of Amendment 2 in the 2014 general election. Column courtesy of Context Florida.