Pubdate: Mon, 13 Oct 2014
Source: Bradenton Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2014 Bradenton Herald
Contact: http://www.bradenton.com/submit-letter/
Website: http://www.bradenton.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/58
Author: Mary Ellen Klas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

DESPITE RHETORIC IN MARIJUANA DEBATE, LEGISLATURE CONTROLS ITS SAFETY

TALLAHASSEE -- Here's the little secret neither side of the Amendment
2 debate over medical marijuana is talking about: The Florida
Legislature controls its fate.

You don't hear it from opposition groups, who claim legalizing medical
marijuana will endanger children, spawn pot shops on every street
corner and become the state's next pill mill fiasco. That will happen
only if the conservative Florida Legislature decides not to impose
strict rules on who obtains the marijuana, who distributes it and
under what conditions.

You don't hear it from proponents, as the United for Care campaign
rolls into college campuses, riding on the hopes of medically needy
Floridians and wishful recreational pot smokers.

Access to medical cannabis for those groups wouldn't be easy, either,
if the Legislature put in place a tightly controlled cultivation and
dispensing system similar to one it adopted earlier this year when it
legalized low-THC, high CBD strains of cannabis.

And what's to stop lawmakers from doing any of this and
more?

"Nothing," said Jon Mills, former Democratic House speaker and a
constitutional lawyer who wrote the amendment on the ballot before
voters Nov.4. "The Legislature can do anything that is not
inconsistent with the Constitution."

The proposed constitutional amendment, he said, prevents the
Legislature from creating a barrier to access for patients diagnosed
with nine particular debilitating ailments, or others who meet the
requirements of the law. But he noted it does allow lawmakers to
establish a protocol for determining what diseases are eligible for
treatment and to put in place rules that keep the public safe.

Mills and former state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a Republican,
headed up a bipartisan panel of law enforcement, medical and
government experts who recently proposed 56 ideas -- from doctor
certification to treatment center access and product testing -- for
legislators to include when implementing the amendment.

"The Legislature could require package labeling with potency and
dosage," Mills said. "It could require all plants to be tested and
certified, and it could place restrictions on distributors, on
caregivers, on growers and doctors."

The authors of the amendment not only assumed the Legislature would
fill in the blanks of the amendment, he said: "We expected it."

Creating new laws for a new cash-only pot industry is not a job that
Florida's Republican-controlled Legislature welcomes, however, and
lawmakers have a history of delaying the implementation of
constitutional amendments brought to them by citizens groups.

In 2002, for example, voters approved the amendment reducing class 
size in K-12 schools, but
legislators phased it in over eight years rather than funding it
quickly. In 2005, voters approved an amendment to allow Miami-Dade and
Broward parimutuel facilities to operate slot machines, but
legislators took two years before enacting it into law. And, in 2008,
voters approved a constitutional amendment to provide tax exemptions
for homeowners who make renewable energy improvements but legislators
didn't implement it until 2013.

To thwart any potential delay in implementing Amendment 2, amendment
authors gave the Florida Department of Health six months to write
rules that must include issuing identification cards to patients and
caregivers, developing medical marijuana treatment centers and
determining treatment amounts to ensure the "safe use of medical
marijuana by qualifying patients."

Because the rules are likely to cost more than $1 million for the
industry to implement, the Legislature will have to ratify them. And
if the department fails to issue the rules in time, the amendment
gives "any Florida citizen standing" to go to court and force the
state to comply.

But legislators from both sides of the political aisle told the Miami
Herald/Tampa Bay Times if Florida voters pass Amendment 2 with the 60
percent majority needed to become law, legislation is inevitable.

Legislature May Have to Act

"Amendment 2 clearly recognizes a role for the Legislature," said
state Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, incoming Senate president. "So if
it does pass, the Legislature will be prepared to address, through the
standard legislative process, the gaps in the law and to provide
guidance to the various state agencies impacted by its passage."

Like Gardiner, incoming House Speaker Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt
Island, opposes Amendment 2 because he believes it's too sweeping, but
he agrees the Legislature has the responsibility to make sure the
product and the public is safe.

Crisafulli said it is too early to say what shape the Legislature's
efforts will take if Amendment 2 passes, but "certainly we will be
working on this if it were to be put into law."

John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer who has injected $5 million of
his own money into the amendment effort, said he is confident
legislators will honor the wishes of voters if they approve the amendment.

"I find Andy Gardiner and Steve Crisafulli, and the guys following
them, to be reasonable," he said. "I do have faith."

Under the amendment, the Florida Department of Health becomes the
official rule-making authority, and many of the rules will need
legislative approval. Both sides note, however, while the Legislature
will control implementation, the governor will set the tone -- and
wield a veto pen.

"If Rick Scott is the governor, the Legislature will likely propose an
enhanced version of the Compassion Medical Cannabis Act," said state
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar, referring to the so-called "Charlotte's
Web" bill passed last session to legalize a noneuphoric strain of
medical marijuana to treat patients with cancer and seizures. "If
Crist wins, that's when things get interesting."

Scott opposes Amendment 2. His surgeon general personally lobbied
against the current low-THC cannabis law. But Scott said Friday during
the Telemundo governor's debate he would follow the law if Amendment 2
passes.

Crist, the former GOP governor turned Democrat who works for Morgan's
law firm, supports the amendment but has said he will oppose any
effort to legalize marijuana for recreational use. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard