Florida Amendment 2 (2016)

The Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, also known as Amendment 2, was approved by voters in the Tuesday, November 8, 2016, general election in the State of Florida. The bill required a super-majority vote to pass, with at least 60% of voters voting for support of a state constitutional amendment.^[1] Florida already had a medical marijuana law in place, but only for those who are terminally ill and with less than a year left to live.^[2] The goal of Amendment 2 is to alleviate those suffering from medical conditions, such as cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, or other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable to those enumerated.^[3] Under Amendment 2, the medical marijuana will not be given to the patient if the physician believes that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient.^[3]

In 2016, measures to legalize recreational marijuana appeared on the ballot in five states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Maine, and Massachusetts. Four more states, including Florida, Arkansas, North Dakota and Montana, considered initiatives to legalize medical marijuana, a move that some say is a first-step towards full legalization.^[4] More than two dozen Florida cities, including Hialeah, Miami Springs, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and Orlando have already regulated or completely banned medical marijuana sales.^[5]

Key differences

The initiative improved on four key issues from the 2014 proposal.^[6]

• Doctors are required to receive parental consent from minors: “In order for a physician certification to be issued to a minor, a parent or legal guardian of the minor must consent in writing.”
• The chronic illness that allows a patient to receive the medical marijuana is better spelled out, as stating “same kind or class as or comparable to” when defining specific illnesses.
• This bill does not repeal any law that defends "negligence or professional malpractice on the part of a qualified patient, caregiver, physician, MMTC (Medical Marijuana Treatment Center), or its agents or employees."
• Additional clauses were added to close the "drug-dealer loophole" in that MMTC's may be limited to how many qualified patients they treat a year.

Financial backers

Funding for Amendment 2 came from various political action committees, including a $1 million contribution came from Washington, D.C.-based, pro-marijuana legalization New Approach PAC. Additional funds were primarily backed by The People for Medical Marijuana PAC, also known as United for Care, who is the bill's sponsor.^[7] As of November 2016, they have provided over $12.5 million towards the amendment.^[8] The United for Care committee is chaired by Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, who has largely bankrolled the Florida medical marijuana effort by contributing at least $6.5 million towards the initiative, and $326,438 in November, 2016.^[8][9]

Opposition

Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson donated $500,000 towards the effort to thwart the bill,^[9] including a contribution of $1 million to the Drug-Free Florida Committee, who also fought the initiative. Adelson, whose son died of a drug overdose, committed $5.5 million to help defeat the medical marijuana Amendment 2 in 2014.^[10]

Former Florida Supreme Court justices rallied together to produce an Op-Ed for the Tampa Bay Times in opposition to the new initiative, stating, "medical marijuana will be too easy for doctors to prescribe", and, "it'd be a wide open door for marijuana regardless of its need as a compassionate, alternative treatment option." ^[11] Additionally, their letter contends that marijuana will be sold at "pot shops" and that there would be more pot shops than 7-11's, McDonald's, and Starbucks combined. Lastly, they stated that there's a right to privacy clause in the bill that would enable criminals to discreetly create "a new pipeline for pot [to get] into high schools throughout Florida."^[11]

Apoka County leaders voted unanimously to ban medical marijuana until May 31, 2017.^[12] Charlotte County has already placed a 9-month prohibition of the amendment taking place, and the commissioners stated that they fear they'll be sued by the federal government as cannabis currently remains on the Schedule 1 list, among the most dangerous drugs.^[13][14] The Charlotte County Sheriff, Bill Prummel, has been vocal in his opposition to medical marijuana because of his fears that "we will trade our pill mills for pot shops," ^[15] referring to the Florida clinics that loosely issued prescription painkillers throughout the state and causing an addiction epidemic, until Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi issued legislation to shut them down in 2011.^[16][17] Sheriff Prummel is Chair of the Charlotte Drug-Free Florida committee. The State committee, Drug-Free Florida, spent $704,389 in the weeks before the general election by producing television ads declaring, "marijuana has no medicinal purposes."^[18][19]

Endorsements

^[20]

Path to the ballot

Following the failure of the 2014 initiative by the same name, on December 17, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court concluded that the People for United Medical Marijuana's sponsorship of Amendment 2 satisfied the court's requirements."Link" (PDF). 

Sponsored again by United for Care, they received the following petition signatures for the initiative to begin and appear on the primary, per election requirements:^[21]

In the weeks prior to the general election date, Broward County election officials omitted Amendment 2 from some of the mail in ballots, prompting a lawsuit from NORML, a pro marijuana legalization firm. Following two emergency hearings, the 17th Judicial Circuit Court judge, Carol-Lisa Phillips, ruled that "there is no evidence of irreparable harm in the case." She continued, "because both of the voters who had confirmed instances of faulty vote-by-mail ballots already received replacement ballots," and no further action has been taken against the election officials.^[22][23]

The amendment passed during the general election on November 8, 2016, with a vote of 71.3% for versus 28.7% against.^[24]

Future of Medical Marijuana in Florida

The spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health, Mara Gambineri, stated that the agency will follow the will of the voters and that the constitutional amendment will go into effect Jan. 3, 2017.^[25] Before Jan. 3, 2017, the medical marijuana available to patients contains low THC.^[25] After that date, the marijuana will be full strength and available to newly qualified patients by July 1, 2017. After the initiative passed, Sen. Jeff Brandes, R. St. Petersburg, began drawing up a bill, one that he believes to be the only in the Senate, to regulate and allow a free market system for medicinal cannabis in Florida.^[25]

Economic impact

According to research from the New Frontier Data, the market growth is expected to be $1.6 billion by 2020, due to the state's percentage of the elderly, and that it is the 3rd most populous state in America.^[26]

See also

• Timeline of cannabis laws in the United States
• Legal history of cannabis in the United States
• List of 2016 United States cannabis reform proposals

References

External links

• Amendment text and history at Florida Department of State
• Amendment 2 (2016) at Ballotpedia