Florida Medical Marijuana’s Last Hope is its First Problem

By Cannabis Now Magazine on May 24, 2017News
Florida Medical Marijuana’s Last Hope is its First Problem

The Florida Legislature decamped without setting up rules for producing and selling medical cannabis in violation of the requirementsof Amendment 2, passed overwhelmingly by voters in November. Now the last best hope rests with Gov. Rick Scott thats bad news for patients.

Nobody is happy with the Florida state Legislature at the moment. Thats what you get when you have clear direction and a relatively simple job before you and you go home leaving it undone.

This is what state lawmakers did on May 5 when they decamped from the state capitol without creating rules for the states new medical marijuana system.

Now weed in the Sunshine State with its nearly 21 million people is a half-baked mess, and everybody is to blame but mostly state lawmakers.

Billy Bain, the mayor of suburban Miami Springs, told the Miami New Times that the inaction of the legislature was (literally) criminal.

Frankly, the state broke the law, Bain said. They didnt come up with the situation of how they wanted this to be distributed, and they kind of fumbled the ball there.

Solutions have been lacking in thetime since the fiasco though theres a short list of people responsible for finding one: Gov. Rick Scott, who has the power to call a special session of the Legislature solely to deal with the marijuana problem, and Senate President Joe Negron, who can call one with House Speaker Richard Corcoran.

As the Tampa Bay Times explains, There are three ways to convene a special session of the Legislature, but only two are likely: Scott calling one on his own, or Negron and Corcoran doing so jointly.

The third way, receiving three-fifths support from the entire state Legislature, is the least likely.

Corcoran has already echoed calls from John Morgan a prominent attorney and chief bankroller of the campaign behind Amendment 2, which won nearly 72 percent of the vote in November for a special session, meaning its all up to Negron or Scott, neither of whom have committed one way or the other, despite more than a dozen lawmakers who have voiced support for a special session.

But mostly Scott.

Im looking at all the options, Scott told reporters at an unrelated event in Miami, theTampa Bay Times reported. Which, if true, shouldnt take too much longer, as there are very few options to choose from but which is also a little concerning, as Scotts record on the issue is not encouraging at all.

The man who ruined Florida medical marijuana now responsible for saving it.

As Cannabis Now contributor Angela Bacca explained in the Huffington Post last year, it was Scott a disgraced former CEO of the Hospital Corporation of America, which committed rampant Medicaid fraud during his tenure who is responsible for Floridas current medical-marijuana setup, in which all the rights to cultivate and distribute cannabis rest with seven companies.

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