Pubdate: Sat, 30 Jul 2016
Source: Orlando Sentinel (FL)
Copyright: 2016 Orlando Sentinel
Contact:  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/325
Note: Rarely prints out-of-state LTEs.
Author: Gray Rohrer

NEXT MEDICAL MARIJUANA BATTLE LOOMS

TALLAHASSEE - Marijuana was sold legally in Florida for the first 
time this week since it was outlawed by the federal government in 1937.

In a staid Tallahassee storefront more akin to a doctor's office than 
a head shop, Dallas Nagy, a Tampa-area native with chronic seizures 
and muscle spasms, plunked down $60 for a non-euphoric strain of 
marijuana Tuesday.

"I thank you for the hope of getting better," Nagy said at the 
opening of Trulieve, the first medical marijuana dispensary in the state.

The milestone, hailed by legalization activists, some doctors, owners 
of nascent pot nurseries and the parents of children with 
debilitating ailments, is really just the beginning of Florida's 
battle over marijuana laws.

Groups on both sides of the medical marijuana debate are battling it 
out over an amendment on the November ballot that would give access 
to marijuana with higher levels of THC - the chemical that creates a 
user's "high" for a wider range of illnesses.

Anti-drug activists and law enforcement say the amendment would lead 
to de facto legalization of the drug. Amendment 2, as it will appear 
on the ballot, makes patients with "debilitating medical conditions" 
eligible - a vague term ripe for abuse, they say.

"It's unlimited, so if you have headaches a doctor could say 
marijuana could alleviate your headache," said Christina Johnson, 
spokeswoman for Drug Free Florida, a group fighting the amendment.

Along with "debilitating conditions," the amendment states that 
patients with glaucoma, HIV/ AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, 
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn's disease, Parkinson's 
disease or multiple sclerosis would be eligible for medical marijuana.

The amendment doesn't specify in what form the drug could be sold.

The fight over Amendment 2 is already drawing big bucks on both sides.

Drug Free Florida got a boost this week in the form of an $800,000 
contribution from Carol Jenkins Barnett, a major Publix shareholder 
and the daughter of the founder of the Lakeland-based grocery store 
chain. The group has about $1.7 million in cash on hand.

On the other side is United for Care, a group funded and promoted 
with the help of Orlando trial attorney John Morgan, which rounded up 
signatures to get the amendment on the 2016 ballot. A similar effort 
in 2014 failed, receiving 57 percent of the vote, 3 percent shy of 
the 60 percent required to pass.

Over the past two elections, the group has raised and spent more than 
$11.5 million. A Quinnipiac poll from May showed 80 percent support 
for the amendment among likely voters.

The success or failure of Amendment 2 could have a huge impact on 
Florida's small, legally sanctioned marijuana industry, which is 
still in its infancy.

Jason Parnell, chief operating officer of Trulieve, said there are 
enough patients to serve and stay in business under the existing law, 
but the additional patients opened up by the amendment would allow 
them to offer lower prices.

"If you have a bigger pool you can have economies of scale, and we 
can do price compression," said Parnell, whose current low-THC 
products include oils, gelcaps and a smokable version.

Whatever voters decide, marijuana laws in Florida will remain 
complicated. Federal law bans the cultivation, possession, use and 
sale of marijuana and considers it a Schedule 1 drug - the same 
classification as heroin.

But for people such as Tallahassee resident Rosalyn Deckerhoff, 
access to cannabis is essential to providing her son Barrett, 20, who 
suffers from epilepsy, some relief and a better life. She's exhausted 
all other options.

"We've done everything medically in the book for the last 20 years, 
including brain surgery," she said.

Two years ago she urged the Legislature to pass a bill allowing 
patients with cancer or debilitating diseases that cause frequent 
seizures like epilepsy to legally obtain a noneuphoric strain of 
marijuana known as "Charlotte's Web."

Because of red tape and legal challenges from growers and 
dispensaries seeking licenses to distribute the drug, it wasn't until 
this week that it became available to patients.

Subsequent laws will allow terminally ill patients access to 
marijuana with more potent tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main 
active chemical in pot.

To obtain medical pot in Florida, a patient must be diagnosed with a 
qualifying condition by a doctor and receive a recommendation for 
medical marijuana by a doctor registered with the state Office of 
Compassionate Use.

Doctors must complete a course to receive a license from the office. 
As of July 22, there were 82 doctors who have taken the eight-hour 
course, including 10 in Central Florida, according to the department.

In addition, doctors recommending medical marijuana must have a 
minimum three-month history of treating the patient.

Because of that rule, Deckerhoff said her son has to wait another two 
months. Then they'll have to see a doctor in Jacksonville because 
there are no doctors in the Tallahassee area licensed to prescribe 
medical marijuana.

"It's frustrating that we have a facility in the capital city, we 
have the bill passed in this town and we have no doctors willing to 
prescribe," she said. "It's frustrating; you get angry but as a 
parent you don't really have a choice."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom