Today the Service Employees International Union of Florida (SEIU Florida) proudly announced its endorsement of United for Care’s ballot initiative, which will allow Florida voters the chance to vote on medical marijuana in November 2016. In the 2014 election, the SEIU supported United for Care and Amendment 2, which received 58% in that election.
SEIU Florida represents over 55,000 active and retired healthcare professionals, public employees, and property service workers in the state. SEIU Florida’s members provide crucial services in hospitals, nursing homes, public schools, community colleges, municipal and county governments, malls, and universities across the state.
“We are honored to again receive the support of the SEIU,” said Ben Pollara, Campaign Manager at United for Care. “The endorsement from the union representing the largest number of healthcare workers in the State is particularly rewarding. We will proudly fight alongside SEIU Florida to secure the rights of doctors and their patients with debilitating conditions to make medical decisions without having to live like criminals.”
A representative of the SEIU Florida State Council expressed her support for both United for Care and the new proposed amendment.
“The Use of Marijuana for Debilitating Medical Conditions ballot initiative is about compassion and quality of care for patients. There are hundreds of thousands of very sick Floridians who will find relief due to this comprehensive proposal. There are 24 other states that have a medical marijuana law; United for Care is doing the right thing for Florida by bringing this issue to the voters. Moreover, the proposal puts medical decisions back in their proper place- between patient and doctor,” said Martha Baker, RN, president of SEIU Local 1991, which represents nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals at Florida’s largest public hospital.
Baker, who is also Vice President of SEIU Florida, continued to say, “Seriously ill patients should not have to expose themselves to prosecution for seeking to obtain the medicine they need to relieve their symptoms, and no physician should have to put their freedom or their license at risk for recommending the use of that medicine.”
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