Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Michael MolineDecember 20, 2016

Senate President Joe Negron on Tuesday defended his plan to store runoff from Lake Okeechobee instead of sending it into coastal estuaries where the nutrient-rich water can feed noxious algae blooms. One of the Stuart Republican’s top priorities for 2017 is to spend $2.4 billion to buy 60,000 acres of land south of the lake […]

Ben PollaraDecember 20, 2016

At last week’s Senate Health Policy Committee workshop on medical marijuana, much of the conversation centered on the question of whether the passage of Amendment 2 necessitated an expansion of the number of licenses to cultivate and sell medical marijuana in Florida. I participated in the workshop at the invitation of Chair Dana Young, and […]

Jim RosicaDecember 13, 2016

The right way to put the new constitutional amendment on medical marijuana into effect is to “treat (it) like medicine,” supporters said Tuesday. The Senate Health Policy committee held its first workshop for the 2017 Legislative Session on medical cannabis implementation. “The states that have done it poorly, with a lack of regulation, allowed folks to market […]

Jim RosicaDecember 9, 2016

With establishment lobbyists now representing it, the medical marijuana cause appears to have become—grab your pearls—respectable. Florida for Care, the nonprofit organization that is advocating for “well-regulated” medicinal pot in the state, has hired Brecht Heuchan and The Mayernick Group to advocate for its interests. Heuchan, who says he voted against the medical marijuana constitutional amendment this November, has […]

Scott PowersDecember 7, 2016

Behind barbed-wire fences and armed guards, an unmarked, nondescript block building invisible from the road features countless surveillance cameras, a walk-in safe, explosion-proof rooms, and labs stocked with equipment that would make any college chemistry department envious, such as an inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometer. This is not Bruce Knox‘s father’s flower nursery. Not anymore. Welcome to Knox Medical LLC’s facilities […]

Peter SchorschDecember 7, 2016

Florida voters approved medical marijuana with 71 percent of the vote on Election Day, and a new report commissioned by Florida for Care shows just how widespread support for the measure was in every corner of the state. According to the TLE Analytics report, Amendment 2 reached the 60 percent threshold in each of Florida’s […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterDecember 6, 2016

Knox Medical will soon begin dispensing medical marijuana to qualified patients. The company announced Tuesday it recently received approval from the Florida Department of Health to begin dispensing low-THC and medical cannabis this week. The company is set to begin initial deliveries to qualified patients Friday. Knox Medical is one of six organizations in the […]

Scott PowersDecember 6, 2016

John Morgan has powerful split emotions about the prospect of running for governor in 2018 as a Democrat, and figures he has at least a year to decide. Morgan, the 60-year-old Orlando trial attorney who championed Florida’s Amendment 2 medical marijuana initiative this year, said others – not he – are pushing for him to run for […]

Jim RosicaNovember 29, 2016

Florida’s bong ban, as toothless as critics say it may be, now is preempted by the recently approved constitutional amendment on medical marijuana. That’s according to Ben Pollara, campaign manager of United for Care. The group has fought for the ballot initiative, which first failed in 2014 before passing this year with 71 percent of […]

Jim RosicaNovember 18, 2016

The head of a medical marijuana advocacy group is criticizing President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Jeff Sessions for U.S. Attorney General. Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, said in an email Friday that the Republican Sessions “has criticized the morality of cannabis users and has stated that cannabis is more harmful than alcohol.” […]

Tag: Medical marijuana
Pam Bondi. Image via AP.

Joe Negron addresses Okeechobee overflow in broad-ranging briefing

Ben Pollara: Expansion of medical marijuana business is necessary and prudent

Treat medical marijuana “like medicine,” advocates say

Implementation of medical marijuana amendment brings together unlikely allies

Knox Medical opens doors to Florida’s medical marijuana future

Medical marijuana’s big Florida win, as voters ‘writ large’ said yes

Knox Medical to begin dispensing medical marijuana this week

John Morgan torn on possible governor run, and in no hurry

Bong ban doesn’t apply to medical pot, advocate says

Medical marijuana advocates up in arms over Jeff Sessions