florida vote totals by county marijuana amendment

#Florida vote totals by county marijuana amendment free#

What those rules would specifically say is anyone’s guess, and the health department told us that they couldn’t speculate.Ī health department spokeswoman pointed out that under current Florida law allowing medical marijuana for some epileptics and terminal patients, the only prohibited form is smoking, which Amendment 2 would allow. The Legislature would have to pass a law on the issue and the Department of Health would have to write the regulations. Kate Bell, legislative counsel at the Marijuana Policy Project, which supports the amendment, said 19 of the 25 medical marijuana states allow edibles, although they all handle them a bit differently.Īmendment 2 offers the state plenty of leeway on how it could regulate the marijuana industry. (It’s also possible that people could always just buy cannabis in bud form and make their own edibles.)īen Pollara, director of United for Care, the group behind the amendment, said Vote No On 2 was creating a 'total dystopian fantasy about the way the amendment could be implemented.' He said a child getting into an adult’s medical marijuana presents the same issues as any medication, and it was up to the adult to prevent accidents from happening. In some of their cases it wasn’t apparent if the candy was medical marijuana or from some other source.

They pointed to several news stories about children in medical marijuana states consuming cookies, chocolate bars, brownies and other sweets and candies.

Vote No On 2 cites an uptick of children being hospitalized in many of those states for eating marijuana-laced candy, which they say is tempting to kids if left out. That’s also part of the problem, because it can be difficult to gauge how the drug may affect people when eaten instead of smoked. Proponents argue that edible forms of marijuana are better for some patients, in part because the effects can be longer-lasting than other methods of ingestion. So while the amendment doesn’t specifically mention candy, it does allow edibles. ' ‘Medical Marijuana Treatment Center’ (MMTC) means an entity that acquires, cultivates, possesses, processes (including development of related products such as food, tinctures, aerosols, oils, or ointments), transfers, transports, sells, distributes, dispenses, or administers marijuana, products containing marijuana, related supplies, or educational materials to qualifying patients or their caregivers and is registered by the Department.' The amendment language says the following (emphasis ours): Here’s where we get into Vote No On 2’s assertion about pot candy.

The patients would take their recommendations to what is referred to as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center, which would be regulated by the state to provide the drug. It’s only a recommendation, because marijuana still is illegal under federal law, so doctors can’t prescribe it and pharmacists can’t distribute it. We wanted to find out whether the medical marijuana amendment allows 'pot candy,' and whether it really would be 'kid-friendly.'Īs a quick refresher, Amendment 2 would let doctors recommend medical marijuana for patients with a host of certain conditions, including cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and more.

#Florida vote totals by county marijuana amendment free#

The campaign is run by the Drug Free Florida Committee, an anti-drug group started in 2014 by longtime GOP fundraiser Mel Sembler and his wife, Betty, with financial backing from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. 'Amendment 2 will bring kid-friendly pot candy to Florida,' the anti-drug campaign Vote No On 2 said in a flier we received in the mail Sept. Opponents of Florida’s medical marijuana amendment are warning that cannabis-enhanced edibles will endanger children, hoping that voters will eat up their dire predictions and reject the measure.