Joe Redner, owner of an "elite" strip club in Tampa, has been stripped of his right to possess and use a whole marijuana plant.
This may not seem out of the ordinary, but just last year, Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers granted Redner the right to grow his own medical ganja.
Redner has doctor’s orders to possess and juice whole marijuana plants as a way to prevent a relapse of his stage 4 lung cancer.
Redner's initial argument for the right to use the plant was based on the 2016 voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana in the state of Florida.
Gievers’ blessing on the order outlined that juicing is “the most effective way to get the benefit of medical marijuana.”
But last Wednesday, a three-judge panel decided that Redner’s use and interpretation of the amendment didn’t hold up.
Judges T. Kent Wetherell, Scott Makar and Associate Judge Monica Brasington ruled that there “is no explicit language authorizing qualified patients to grow, cultivate, or process marijuana.”
And if there had been intent for qualified patients to do so, the judges argued that it would’ve been plainly written in the amendment.
Redner’s lawyer, Luke Lirot, told The News Service of Florida that the appellate court did some “linguistic calisthenics” to “come up with a way that would deny Mr. Redner and others that are similarly situated this important constitutional right.”
“Certainly, they as the accomplished jurists that they are, are duty-bound to correct this error, and to conclude that the Constitution actually says what is says,” Lirot said.
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