Following last-minutechanges, the lower house of Floridas legislature voted 105-9 on Tuesday to pass HB 1397, ostensibly following through on the voter mandate to establish a medical marijuana program in the Sunshine State.
But those last-minute changes included both a limit on the number of license holdersand a ban on actually smoking herbaceous cannabis.
House sponsor and Republican leaderRay Rodriguesblamed fears of interference from the Trump administration, telling theTampa Bay Times: We have to make it legal and available to Florida residents, but we have to do it in such a way that it complies to the guidance weve been given by the federal government.
TheMiami New Timeswas less forgiving in its coverage, writing: Floridas House of Representatives proved today there is nothing its grubby little hands cant screw up.
The newspapernoted that last November,Amendment 2wasapprovedby 72 percent of Floridas voters, mandating legalization of medicinal cannabis for those suffering from debilitating diseases, including cancer, AIDS and Alzheimers. HB 1397 does not meet that mandate, according toBen Pollara, policy director ofUnited for Care, the group that pushed for the passage of Amendment 2.
While acknowledging that earlier versions of the bill were even worse, he said: [T]his is still a fatally flawed piece of legislation.
The original text of HB 1397 banned all forms of smokable, edible and vape-able cannabisleading Pollara to ask in exasperation, Well, how can you ingest it?
After an outcry of protest from patient advocacy groups, lawmakers amended the bill to at least allow edibles and vaporizers for qualifying patients. But the perverse ...
