Tallahasee, FL: Earlier this week, United for Care, the campaign working to place a medical marijuana constitutional amendment on the ballot in Florida, was advised by the secretary of state’s office that they had collected and certified the required number of signatures for qualification. Advocates collected well over the 683,000 signatures necessary to qualify the measure for the fall ballot.
Then later in the week, the Florida Supreme Court, where the language of the ballot summary had been challenged by the state, ruled 4-3 in favor of allowing the amendment to be placed on November’s ballot.
"Florida and national NORML salute the decision of the Florida Supreme Court to allow our citizens the right to decide for themselves if medicinal marijuana is an appropriate course of conduct for their own adult lives," stated NORML Board Chair and Florida resident Norm Kent, "Our group will be working vigorously, from Key West to our northwest panhandle, to pass this amendment and give our citizens the right to make health decisions best suited for their own lives."
"This is a tribute to the initiative of John Morgan, the group United for Care, and the thousands of petitioners who labored all over the state to acquire the requisite number of petitions to get this item on the ballot," Kent said.
Twenty states have now passed laws permitting medical marijuana and two have legalized cannabis for recreational use. Florida represents the first southern state to launch such an initiative, which divides the gubernatorial candidates, with the present governor, Rick Scott, opposing the initiative, and his likely opponent, Charlie Crist, saying he supports the effort. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted in November showed 82 percent of Florida voters support the medical use of marijuana.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director at (202) 483-5500.