Florida Medical Marijuana Debate (Vid)

Today's post from politics.heraldtribune.com (see link below) is a report on a debate about the efficacy of medical marijuana. It includes a video of the debate at the end. It's a fascinating look at both sides of the legislative argument regarding marijuana as a pain reliever and as many people with neuropathy are interested in the truths behind the matter, it's well worth a read and a view.

Medical marijuana debate at Tiger Bay
By Jeremy Wallace , Herald-Tribune / Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Selective statistics, references to God and highly-charged emotional stories of lost loved ones were lobbed back and forth Wednesday during the first major debate here over medical marijuana since a proposed constitutional amendment was certified for this year's ballot.


Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight and John Morgan, of Morgan; Morgan Attorneys, debate a proposed constitutional amendment allowing Medical Marijuana in Florida during a Sarasota Tiger Bay Club event at Michael's On East in Sarasota on Wednesday. (Staff Photo by Elaine Litherland)

But in the end, Orlando attorney John Morgan, who has become the statewide face of the push to legalize medical marijuana, and Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight, who opposes the effort, turned a clash in Sarasota over the issue into two simplified choices.

Morgan argued that allowing marijuana to be prescribed for those in pain is preferable to far more dangerous and addictive medications.

"The downside of marijuana pales with the FDA-approved drugs like Oxy, Percocet, Darvocet, Xanax," Morgan told more than 400 people at a Sarasota Tiger Bay luncheon. "It pales, because one is a narcotic poison and one is an organic plant in nature."

But Knight characterized the choice as one between the current quality of life in Florida and that in California and Colorado after marijuana use became legal there. Both have seen marijuana dispensaries proliferate, including some that have been tied to Colombian drug cartels, Knight said.

"One, our children are going to have much easier access to pot" if the proposed medical marijuana amendment passes, Knight said. "Secondly, crime will increase in this community. And thirdly, our quality of life will be negatively affected."

Knight said tourism, beaches and property values would all be affected if Florida followed other states in loosening restrictions on marijuana for medical use.

Debate over the issue is gaining momentum after the Florida Supreme Court ruled last month that an amendment to legalize marijuana for medical use could be on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.

If 60 percent of voters approve the measure, Florida would follow 18 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing medical patients to use marijuana.

Two states, Washington and Colorado, allow legal purchases for non-medical use.

A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in November showed a large majority of Florida voters, 82 percent, backed allowing adults to use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes the drug. Just 16 percent of voters said they opposed marijuana for medical use.

Knight said those poll numbers are bound to change as opponents of the effort spread the word on the unintended consequences of the ballot measure.

"Only one side of the argument has been heard on this so far," Knight said at the meeting of Sarasota Tiger Bay, a civic group that meets monthly to talk about community issues and politics.

No one in the state is more responsible for the marijuana amendment getting on the ballot than Morgan, the attorney known statewide for his Morgan and; Morgan law firm's advertising campaign: "For The People."

Morgan has spent millions of dollars to draft the amendment, pay people to gather the signatures required to get the measure on the ballot and advocate for its passage.

The reason for his commitment is simple, he said. His father had cancer and his brother Tim is quadriplegic. He said when both used marijuana they were in far less pain, had improved appetites, and in the case of his brother, fewer spasms.

"It works," Morgan said. "I don't know why it works. I don't know why water quenches thirst. But it works."

Morgan even wove in a divine reason why marijuana should be legal.

"I don't know why God put this plant onto this Earth for us, but He did," Morgan said.

Knight was quick to counter.

"God put this on the Earth for us, but God also put cocoa leaves for crack cocaine and God also put the plants on the Earth for opiates, for heroin," Knight said. "God also put criminals on Earth."

Knight is part of a growing wave of opposition from sheriffs and law enforcement officials against the marijuana initiative.

He and other sheriffs have been writing letters to the editor in newspapers across the state opposing the marijuana initiative.

During Wednesday's meeting Knight also tried to counter Morgan's characterization of marijuana as a better alternative than prescription drugs. He said if marijuana has medical uses, he needs to see something from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first that says "for sure" that it is medically useful.

"There is no scientific proof to say if legalized marijuana would help cure chronic pain and illness," Knight said.

Morgan nearly scoffed at the idea that the FDA should be the purveyor of what is safe and effective for patients, given the number of lawsuits his firm has filed against drug makers over the years.

"Sixteen thousand people die every year in American from Oxycotin — approved by the FDA," Morgan said, listing other medications that the agency once approved that are no longer available.

Morgan also sought to counter Knight's comparison of Florida to Colorado and California.

He said Florida's amendment is for medical purposes and conditions, not recreational use as in Colorado. Morgan said it would not allow for home growers of marijuana as California does.

"What our focus groups told me before I put the language together was, loud and clear: 'We don't want to be California,'" Morgan said, adding that he is following the lessons from other states as to what not to do.

He said even if Florida passes the amendment, the state Legislature will have the final say on how marijuana is dispensed and who can do it. The governor has to sign it into law and local governments would permit the places that dispense it.

He told the Tiger Bay audience to be wary of people who say marijuana will be pervasive.

"It's a scare tactic by well-meaning people to say we are going to have these things on every corner," Morgan said.

Knight said the issue is not a moral or even a medical one. He said he is not unsympathetic to people dealing with pain, but worries about the effect on law enforcement, crime and the community at large.

If the amendment passes, Knight said, Florida will be "getting more than we bargained for and it will affect our quality of life."


 

 Jeremy Wallace can be reached at 361-4966 or jeremy.wallace @heraldtribune.com

 http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/02/12/medical-marijuana-debate-at-tiger-bay/