Pubdate: Sat, 12 Aug 2017 Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL) Copyright: 2017 News-Journal Corporation Contact: http://www.news-journalonline.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700 Author: Mark Lane LANE: ON MEDICAL POT, PUBLIC WAY AHEAD OF LEADERS On medical marijuana, the public is way ahead of officialdom. Statewide, 71 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of the medical marijuana amendment last November. In Flagler County, the margin was the same. In Volusia County, 73 percent voted to approve. Overwhelming support. Particularly in a state like Florida which is known sharp political divisions on most issues. Even so, the Legislature was so reluctant to pass legislation putting the amendment into effect that nothing was approved during the regular spring session. It took a special session for a compromise to be worked out between those who wanted very restrictive enacting legislation and those who wanted very, very restrictive enacting legislation. The version that passed did not allow sales of smokeable marijuana, something drafters and supporters of the measure said the amendment implicitly allowed for. Which is why the measure's biggest backer, John Morgan, sued last month charging that the Legislature did not follow the amendment's intent. Despite the popularity of the amendment and despite the restrictiveness of the enacting legislation cities around the state have been quick to enact moratoriums and bans on medical marijuana dispensaries. Many in politics and law enforcement who support the bans seem locked in a 1980s-style War on Drugs mentality that sees marijuana as a public danger comparable to opiates and the only way to fight it is stay extra tough. Some of the discussion by city officeholders wanting to ban medical marijuana dispensaries has mixed old-fashioned “Reefer Madness”-style drug miseducation with blithe ignorance about what's really in the medical marijuana amendment and its enacting legislation. They talk about people smoking pot in front of dispensary storefronts. They talk about dispensaries as though they'd be recreational pot cafes or return to the era of California-style nod-and-a-wink medicinal pot shops where anyone can walk in and get a medical marijuana card. They visualize something like 1970s head shops popping up all over town. They even compare them to the opioid pill mills of the past decade. But the enacting law is strict enough that the people who supported the amendment are already in court because it bans smokeable forms of marijuana. (Vaping mixtures, however, would be allowed.) And doctors are only permitted to recommend medical marijuana for serious illnesses like epilepsy, cancer, HIV, AIDS, glaucoma, post-traumatic stress disorder, ALS, Crohn's disease, and multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. No getting a card for backaches, anxiety or feeling stressed out. Patients are limited to a 70-day supply and must be listed on a state registry. Doctors who have signed up to issue the cards may not be employed or have any financial connection to places that distribute marijuana. There are just under 1,000 doctors registered to recommend medical pot statewide, and as of last week, 18 were in Volusia County and two in Flagler. The good news is that some cities are reversing their previous knee-jerk opposition to medical marijuana dispensaries. Palm Coast was quick to enact a moratorium to keep dispensaries out. It has extended the moratorium but now with the intention of coming up with the right zoning regulations to accommodate them. Likewise, Flagler Beach changed course and voted Thursday not to ban dispensaries. Meanwhile, Daytona Beach, which is always OK about its heavy concentration of bars and late nightclub hours, has suddenly become very prim and moralistic about allowing medical marijuana to be dispensed within its boundaries. Heavens! What would medical marijuana dispensaries that do to Capital of Bike Week's civic image? Daytona Beach medical marijuana cardholders would need to travel down to Edgewater, which already is set to allow two new dispensaries. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt