The second effort to get a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana got a thumbs-up from the Florida Supreme Court Thursday, reports the News Service of Florida.
Of course, the effort — which the group People United for Medical Marijuana (same guys as last time) is leading — still needs to collect thousands more signatures, some 283,000 & change of them in order to get the amendment on the 2016 ballot.
The Florida Supreme Court's job was simply to determine whether the ballot language reflects what the amendment would actually do and make sure it does that and only that.
"(The) ballot title and summary fairly inform voters of the purpose of the proposed amendment —- the state authorization of medical marijuana for patients with debilitating medical conditions,'' the 15-page opinion said, according to NSF. "The language is clear and does not mislead voters regarding the actual content of the proposed amendment."
Unlike the 2014 effort to get medicinal pot on the ballot, which split the supreme court justices 4-3, this decision was unanimous. This was obviously good news to People United's campaign manager, Ben Pollara.
"The unanimous decision by the Florida Supreme Court to approve the new medical marijuana constitutional amendment is a huge victory for hundreds of thousands of sick and suffering Floridians who could benefit from the passage of such a law," he told NSF in a text message. "While we still must collect the required number of signatures before officially being placed on the 2016 ballot, we are confident that we will and that Florida voters will approve this amendment in the general election."
Other possibly good news (we're totally speculating here, but with logic and stuff) is that the money that helped defeat the measure in 2014 — that belonging to billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who apparently had nothing better to do back then but keep a medicine illegal here — may not flow as it did then. Adelson, after all, is throwing his money behind GOP presidential hopeful Marco Rubio and probably every other Mondo Douchio running at the congressional and state level promising to look after his interests for a taste of that sweet, glittery Vegas money.
But don't get too excited if you aren't diagnosed with an actual terrible condition, as the law, if approved by 60 percent of voters, would not cover those complaining of sore back, flat feet or Piper at the Gates of Dawn on vinyl accompanied by a futon and a cool space tapestry to stare at.
Actual conditions that would justify a prescription are not fun, and would include cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, post-traumatic stress disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn's disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.
(By the way, we recommend Piper at the Gates of Dawn and a mean space tapestry to everyone, medical marijuana prescriptees and non-medical marijuana prescriptees alike.)
