This year, Florida state lawmakers had a clear mandate: Figure out how to give the state’s voters their constitutionally mandated weed, and do it by May 5.
On the same day they helped hand Donald Trump a not-so-historic Electoral College victory, Florida voters told their legislature—loudly, by an overwhelming 72 percent to 28 percent margin—that they wanted legal medical marijuana.
But the problem with Amendment 2 was that it left the job only partly done—it only modified the state constitution to say seriously ill Floridians could have medical cannabis. It left the how—how many dispensaries, how many growers, how is this going to work and how can I alleviate my AIDS or cancer-related suffering, please—to state lawmakers.
Writing rules for the growing and selling of marijuana is a big job, one that dozens of other states have successfully managed. But too big for Florida lawmakers, it turned out.
They failed, with a last-minute squabble over how many dispensaries is too many for 20 million people—50? 100?—ensuring that the legislative session would end with no medical-marijuana rules in place.
credit:hightimes.com
