Pubdate: Sat, 26 Mar 2016
Source: Tampa Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2016 The Tribune Co.
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Website: http://tbo.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446

SCOTT SIGNS BILL ALLOWING POT FOR TERMINALLY ILL

He Didn't Comment on Hb 307, Which Expands Existing Law

TALLAHASSEE - With Floridians poised to vote this fall on broad 
legalization of medical marijuana, Gov. Rick Scott on Friday signed a 
bill that will allow terminally ill patients to have access to 
marijuana to ease suffering.

The bill, which lawmakers approved this month, was one of 68 measures 
that Scott signed into law Friday. He also vetoed one bill dealing 
with a utility in Alachua County.

Scott did not issue a comment on the medical-marijuana bill (HB 307), 
but House sponsor Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, went on Twitter to 
say the governor showed "heart & compassion" by signing the measure.

The bill expands a 2015 law known as the "Right to Try Act" to 
include medical pot. That law allows terminally ill patients access 
to experimental drugs that have not been approved for general use by 
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Along with making marijuana available to dying patients, the bill 
seeks to address long-running problems in carrying out a 2014 
cannabis law that primarily was billed as a way to help children with 
severe forms of epilepsy. That law was supposed to make available 
forms of cannabis that do not get users high, but administrative 
issues and legal challenges have prevented patients from getting 
access to the substances.

The 2014 law and the newly signed bill are far narrower than the 
legalization proposal that will be on the ballot in November.

The News Service Of Florida
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom