The bid for medical marijuana in Florida went up in smoke Tuesday night. Amendment 2 got nearly 58% support – not enough for the 60% needed to pass. At an event hosted by United for Care a couple of dozen supporters gathered at waterfront café in downtown St Pete awaited the result. The supporters already plan to put in on the ballot again in 2016 if not sooner.
Other places in the country like Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., went further than medical marijuana and voted for recreational pot use. Campaign manager for United for Care, Ben Pollera, is pleased with the effort to pass Amendment 2. He said his organization and other supporters are poised to start the process again.
Some have suggested that the recent public antics by medical marijuana spokesperson, the attorney John Morgan, may have caused a slip in the polls. Ben Pollera said next time he wouldn’t change a thing.
CannaMoms came out to the election night event. These are mothers whose children have debilitating illnesses, which require a laundry list of powerful pharmaceutical drugs for maintenance of their illness. Rene Peltro is one such mom. Her son has epilepsy and needs medication to keep his seizures under control. She said pharmaceutical drugs haven’t helped, but cannabis has
Petro said the pros of medical marijuana far outweigh the cons.
The next step in legalizing medical marijuana in Florida could be a bill in the 2015 legislative session.
