Phil Ammann
Editorial cartoonist Bill Day casts a critical eye this week on Florida’s medical marijuana fight, pitting well-known attorney John Morgan against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, one of the most influential politicians in the Democratic Party.
As the principal financial backers behind People United for Medical Marijuana, Morgan spearheaded Amendment 2, the 2014 proposal to legalize medical marijuana in Florida.
Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, is chair of the Democratic National Committee. She is also a potential Senate candidate in 2016, if Marco Rubio should decide to run for the White House, or in 2018, if U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson decides to retire.
The quarrel between Morgan and Wasserman Schultz began last year after she voiced opposition to Amendment 2.
Although the initiative ultimately received about 57 percent of the vote, Florida law requires 60 percent — a supermajority of support – which means it failed to pass.
However, 57 percent is still a majority, and the measure remains popular with voters. A bill filed by state Sen. Jeff Brandes, a St. Petersburg Republican, is currently making way through the Florida Legislature. If passed, it could legalize marijuana for the treatment of a number of ailments.
And if the bill fails, Morgan is hard at work to bring another constitutional amendment for the November 2016 ballot.
Possibly sensing she is on the wrong side of history, as well as her political ambitions for the Senate, Wasserman Schultz changed her mind, telling Morgan she would now give support to medical marijuana in Florida.
POLITICO reported that the DNC chair’s change of heart comes with one caveat: that Morgan stop criticizing her for her vocal opposition, which Morgan sees as one of the factors in the narrow defeat of Amendment 1 last year.
Morgan, in his characteristic no-nonsense approach, responded with an email blast to United for Care supporters: “We don’t negotiate with prohibitionists. Or bullies.”
