Florida: Initiative to Legalize Medical Cannabis Officially Qualifies for November Ballot
The Florida Division of Elections has confirmed that United for Care’s initiative to legalize medical cannabis has exceeded the 683,149 signatures required to be placed on the 2016 presidential election ballot. The initiative is nearly identical to a 2014 medical cannabis initiative which received 58% of the vote in the general election but failed to become law due to a 60% requirement in Florida for constitutional amendments. As with the 2014 measure, this new measure will be Amendment 2.
“Compassion is coming,” said United for Care chairman, John B. Morgan, who largely funded the signature collection campaign for the initiative. “This November, Florida will pass this law and hundreds of thousands of sick and suffering people will see relief. What Tallahassee politicians refused to do, the people will do together in this election.”
Morgan continued, “Our language is stronger than in 2014 and it shows… The [Florida Supreme] Court approved our language unanimously. The people of Florida are compassionate. We will win this election for the really sick people in our state.”
United for Care’s campaign manager and treasurer, Ben Pollara, said, “This is a tremendous victory for patients and doctors in our state. Amendment 2 will pass this fall and less than a year from today Florida will join 23 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing physicians to recommend marijuana to individuals with debilitating conditions. Every day, doctors prescribe dangerous, addictive, and potentially deadly narcotics to their patients but can’t even suggest the use of marijuana, which has never killed a person in thousands of years of human civilization. Very soon, Florida doctors will finally have that option.”
