MANATEE -- Parrish's Cathy Jordan, an advocate for legalization of medical marijuana ever 1989 when it first eased her symptoms from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is in Denver attending the four-day 2013 International Drug Policy Reform Conference. But her husband, Robert Jordan, remains in Manatee County. He said his wife will be disappointed when she hears Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi criticized a proposed Florida amendment to legalize medical marijuana by calling the wording misleading in a filing Thursday to the Florida Supreme Court. Bondi asked the Supreme Court to block the amendment from going forward. [continues 602 words]
The Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act will come before Florida legislators in 2013 in honor of a wheelchair-bound Parrish woman who has fought for the past 16 years for the legalization of medical cannabis in Florida. But Cathy Jordan's celebrity in the area of medical cannabis, including her conviction that the herb has helped her battle her Lou Gehrig's disease, does not insulate her from existing marijuana laws. Jordan's husband, Robert, told the Bradenton Herald that his Parrish home in Beck Estates on 98th Avenue in Parrish was raided shortly after 2 p.m. Monday by deputies and detectives with the Manatee County Sheriff's Office drug intervention unit who wore ski masks. [continues 525 words]
LAKEWOOD RANCH - Insisting that your children sit down with you at the dinner table at least twice a week can reduce the risk of them abusing drugs. "At dinner, you establish habits that make children listen even though they don't realize it," said James R. McDonough, director of Gov. Jeb Bush's Florida Office of Drug Control. "You don't realize how much wisdom you can impart over dinner." McDonough spoke to 300 guests attending a Lakewood Ranch Rotary Club and Manatee Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Lakewood Ranch Country Club on Wednesday. [continues 664 words]
