By Steve Elliott of Toke of the Town
Medical marijuana patients in Florida may be one step closer to lighting up legally thanks to a state senator.
State Senator Larcenia Bullard (D-Miami), recently filed Senate Joint Resolution 1028, a Senate bill to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes in the Sunshine State, in an effort to get it on the 2012 ballot, according to a Central Florida 13 news report by Troy Kinsey and Margaret Kavanagh.
Representative Jeff Clements of Lake Worth also introduced companion legislation, HJR 353, reports Kristal Roberts at ABC Action News.
Bullard’s bill creates an amendment that allows people with debilitating medical conditions to use marijuana as treatment on the recommendation of a doctor. The bill legislation would also allow medical marijuana farms and dispensaries to operate in Florida.
?Both the Senate and the House would have to pass the bill by three-fifths margins in order for the amendment to qualify for the November 2012 ballot, which is a steep hurdle. Should the voters approve (and current opinion polls show a majority of Floridians favoring medical marijuana), it would become law on July 1, 2013.
The choice should belong to doctors and responsible adults, according to Florida Cannabis Network executive Jodi James
“We should tax it; we should control it,” James said. “If someone is growing it, it should be their responsibility alone. We believe by regulating it and controlling it we are going to be keeping out out of the hands of children as opposed to an unregulated market.”
“This is a multi-billion dollar worldwide industry that Florida farmers have no access to it,” James said.
Hundreds of people attended a pro-marijuana event, the Cannabis Freedom Festival, on Saturday and Sunday at Wickham Park near Brevard Community College in Melbourne, Florida.
The crowd heard Florida movement leaders such as federal medical marijuana patient Irvin Rosenfeld, author of My Medicine, and former federal marijuana prisoner and current leader of the The Silver Tour leader Robert Platshorn, author of the gripping autobiography, Black Tuna Diaries.
The Silver Tour brings the message of medical marijuana to senior citizens, educating America’s most powerful voting bloc on the benefits of medicinal cannabis
Article From Toke of the Town and republished with special permission. legalization.
