Florida prepping for pot proposals – The Ledger

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Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of marijuana for adult use, although under federal law marijuana is still illegal. Marijuana for medical use was approved by Florida voters in 2016.

TALLAHASSEE — Three ballot proposals that would legalize recreational marijuana in Florida are still looking iffy as far as making it before voters next year.

But state lawmakers aren’t taking any chances.

House health committees have been hearing testimony in recent weeks about states that have approved adult-use marijuana and now face a host of unexpected issues.

“I would be surprised if one of these initiatives was not on the Florida ballot next year,” said House Health & Human Services Chair Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero. “I’m not a fan of recreational marijuana. But I’m a policymaker who’d like to be able to articulate the reasons why I don’t support it.”

The Florida House has invited law enforcement, doctors and academic experts from Oregon, Utah, Colorado and Massachusetts to testify before health care panels.

While Rodrigues said he does not expect these appearances to dampen what appears to be strong support for the ballot proposals, he said some of the more jarring data from legalized marijuana states could make its way into opposition campaigns that may emerge.

Tales of increased emergency room visits linked to marijuana use, pot-smoking filtering down to grade school kids, and an over-producing pot industry sucking up needed water and heightening greenhouse gas levels was part of the testimony presented by the out-of-state experts.

Supporters, though, downplay the warnings.

“Clearly, there are people who have very different opinions about the use of cannabis,” said Nick Hansen, chairman of the Make It Legal Florida campaign.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of marijuana for adult use, although under federal law marijuana is still illegal. Marijuana for medical use was approved by Florida voters in 2016.

“I don’t have the power to stop these amendments,” Rodrigues said of the efforts aimed at next November. “But I think it’s important for people to make informed choices.”

The marijuana industry-backed “Make It Legal Florida” initiative cleared a hurdle last week by topping 10 percent of the 766,200 verified signatures from registered voters needed to qualify for the ballot.

Two of the nation’s big marijuana companies, MedMen and Surterra Holdings, now called Parallel, have financed much of the $2.8 million signature gathering campaign so far.

Make It Legal would allow adults over age 21 to have up to 2.5 ounces of pot for personal use. Clearing the 10 percent signature threshold now makes the measure eligible for Florida Supreme Court review, which will decide if the ballot wording and approach complies with the state constitution and can go before voters.

The Make It Legal Florida campaign would rely on basically converting the state’s current medical marijuana cultivation, processing and distribution system to adult-use pot — potentially making the state’s 22 license holding companies stunningly wealthy.

“We are on pace to have the signatures,” Hansen said, with the campaign saying it gathered more than 390,000 signatures so far and most are still awaiting verification by elections supervisors.

The 766,200 signature total needs to be hit by Feb. 1 for a proposed constitutional amendment to make it onto the ballot.

Another initiative, dubbed Regulate Florida, surpassed the 10 percent signature level earlier this fall and is already before the state Supreme Court. While Make It Legal has industry backing, Regulate Florida is more of what its leaders describe, without irony, as a grassroots campaign.

“If we had another $2.5 million behind us, we’d make it to the ballot,” said Karen Goldstein, vice-chair of Regulate Florida and deputy director of the pro-pot group, NORML Florida. “We’re still out there gathering signatures, but it’s tough.”

The Florida Cannabis and Hemp Industry Expo held in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday was a signature-gathering spot, as was a weekend CBD Expo in Orlando.

Regulate Florida would allow people over age 21 to have as much as one ounce of pot, but also grow their own plants for personal use and buy marijuana at retail stores, similar to the way alcohol is now sold.

A third ballot proposal, Floridians for Freedom, is lagging far back in its signature collecting. It has the fewest restrictions for people age 21 or older seeking to smoke pot. But it is facing the toughest odds for making the ballot.

A University of North Florida poll last month showed 64 percent of Florida voters support the legalization of recreational marijuana, a level of popularity that reflects earlier surveys. A proposed constitutional amendment in Florida would have to draw at least 60 percent approval to become law.

But the speakers before House committees have raised some provocative points.

Chris Gibson, the executive director of the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which coordinates drug control efforts among law enforcement agencies, said Oregon has seen a windfall of tax revenue from legalized pot, but also over-production and a rise in black market marijuana sales to other states, including Florida.

Bertha Madras, a psychobiologist at Harvard Medical School, testified that: “Colorado has found … the tax revenue is one-quarter of the amount of taxes needed to compensate for the rising consequences of marijuana cost to the state.”

She likened the drive to approve marijuana use to tactics employed by the pharmaceutical industry in the early 2000s, when opioid drugs were marketed as safe and non-addictive. Madras said states should be cautious about launching a “massive human experiment.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who drew praise from marijuana advocates by getting the Legislature earlier this year to drop its ban on smokable medical marijuana, says he opposes recreational pot.

DeSantis also has said he wants to revamp the state’s current licensing system — a pledge that could challenge the way Make It Legal Florida envisions recreational marijuana being grown, processed and distributed.

The First District Court of Appeal in July ruled the current system is unconstitutional because of the limits it imposes. The Florida Supreme Court now likely will have to decide the future of the licensing system.

Meanwhile, the marijuana landscape has changed markedly in Florida.

A medical marijuana legalization effort failed to clear the 60 percent bar for approval in 2014, drawing 58 percent support in the face of an aggressive opposition campaign funded largely by Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino owner and DeSantis supporter, who gave $800,000 to the governor’s election campaign last year.

Two years later, a revised medical marijuana proposal was strongly endorsed by Florida voters, with 71 percent approval. Both campaigns were largely financed by Orlando trial lawyer John Morgan, but by 2016 opposition had eased.

A recreational measure put before voters, though, is almost certain to draw some level of opposition, although nothing currently appears organized.

But even if Floridians get to vote on — and approve — a legalization effort next November, the Legislature would be charged with crafting legislation to implement the new pot law.

Rodrigues said that while polls show Floridians in favor of adult-use marijuana, that may change once voters start hearing what lawmakers are hearing from those in marijuana states.

“These polls are being taken now in Florida without any downsides being communicated,” Rodrigues said. “On referendums, it always seems the public supports ideas until they start hearing what it may mean, then support starts dropping.”

“The question always is, will it drop far enough?” he added.