Florida

The real cost in legalizing marijuana can be counted by the lives impacted- addiction, vaping, dispensing, traffic deaths, suicides, overdoses, … 
 

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners has determined that the prohibition on the sale, possession, and use of vapor‐generating electronic devices and vapor products should be extended to include young adults under the age of 21.

The seven most frequently occurring drugs found in decedents were ethyl alcohol (5,258), benzodiazepines (5,064, including 1,889 alprazolam occurrences), cocaine (3,129), cannabinoids (2,367), fentanyl (2,088), morphine (1,992), and fentanyl analogs (1,685). Since heroin is rapidly metabolized to morphine, this may lead to a substantial over-reporting of morphine-related deaths as well as significant under-reporting of heroin-related deaths.
Cannabinoids 7 (cause of death)   2,360 (present)  2,367 (total)
 
 

Florida has lowered the original cost of the fee for doctors to be licensed to prescribe medical marijuana to $250 from $1,000 and reduced the training time to two hours from eight. It has increased the number of physicians able to recommend medical marijuana by 48 percent since the beginning of the year.
“We are looking at Florida as the biggest medical marijuana market in the United States,” he said. “As more dispensaries open and more doctors get qualified, you reach a critical mass at some point where more and more people are hearing about it and it’s easier to go to a dispensary.”

Please note that the 2015 crash report included "alcohol-suspected" crash data. In the 2016 crash report, only alcohol confirmed data is used. Hillsborough is #2 in alcohol confirmed fatalities and Orange County is #1. Hillsborough is #1 in alcohol confirmed crashes AND drug confirmed crashes. :-(
Florida
Fatal crashes up 8.74% from 2015
Alcohol confirmed fatalities down 9.25%
Hillsborough
Alcohol confirmed crashes 546
alcohol confirmed injuries 271
alcohol confirmed fatalities 42
Drug confirmed crashes- 60

"If we don't aggressively seek to limit the use and sale of marijuana, our country and state as we know it will never be the same. Florida will be trading our beautiful white, sandy beaches filled with vacationing families for a hazy, skunk-smelling coastline laden with unemployable, unmotivated homeless people," said Teresa Miller, a drug prevention activist and founder of the "no2pot.org" website.

It is about money not medicine.  If the number of patients exceeds 250,000 anytime soon in 2017, Bradley said he could see the medicinal marijuana growing businesses jump from a half dozen “to nine or 10 in short order under current law.”

The ordinance limits the approved area of medical marijuana dispensaries to just under 4 acres next to South Florida Baptist Hospital and Maryland Fried Chicken in the C1-B Neighborhood Business District.  Additionally, medical marijuana dispensaries in Plant City must be at least 500 feet from any pre-existing school, church, daycare facility, substance abuse treatment facility, public park or residential area. 

Officers searched Calloway’s vehicle after smelling the pot. Officers say they found 22.9 grams of hash oil, 2,320 grams of pot and 84 bags of gummy candies laced with THC. 

Friends, I make no bones about not being politically correct; neither do I apologize. But I would be the first to acknowledge that uneducated/unemployed weed-smoking/drug-crazed young black males are single-handedly responsible for the huge spike in the homicide rate. And this is being seen all across the country.

"Many adolescents and young adults hear that marijuana is harmless," Miller said. "This is a myth. Research shows that the brain continues to grow until the age of 25. Marijuana is extremely harmful to the developing brain."
Officials in St. Petersburg also have discussed a similar de-escalation of the war on this particular drug. Last year, Miami-Dade, Miami Beach, Fernandina Beach and Hallandale Beach all launched citation programs.

Medina's back seat passenger, Daniela Benavides San Miguel, 18, was killed in the crash. Benavides San Miguel had graduated from Gulliver Preparatory last spring and was a freshman at Pepperdine University in California.
A passenger in the front seat, Mathew Saldana, 17, was injured in the crash. Medina and Saldana were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center with head injuries.
According to a court document, toxicology reports showed that Medina tested positive for marijuana.

The project is intended to treat 50 children from ages 2 to 16 living with epilepsy that have exhausted most of their treatment options, Carney said.
Every step of the three-year study will be meticulously tracked. Patients will check-in at regular intervals and the researchers will examine how the children are responding, Carney said.
All subjects will be clinically evaluated and seizure frequency will be recorded in a diary given to patients, according to the ClinicalTrials.gov website.
“Through this research, we want to learn about what type of children respond, if they can tolerate the medication and if there are any side effects we need to worry about,” Carney said.
The study will begin later this summer and participants are still being accepted, Carney said.The project is intended to treat 50 children from ages 2 to 16 living with epilepsy that have exhausted most of their treatment options, Carney said.
Every step of the three-year study will be meticulously tracked. Patients will check-in at regular intervals and the researchers will examine how the children are responding, Carney said.
All subjects will be clinically evaluated and seizure frequency will be recorded in a diary given to patients, according to the ClinicalTrials.gov website.
“Through this research, we want to learn about what type of children respond, if they can tolerate the medication and if there are any side effects we need to worry about,” Carney said.
The study will begin later this summer and participants are still being accepted, Carney said.

Ellen Snelling, chairman of the Anti-Drug Alliance, lives in Temple Terrace and often participates in the parade. She said the float and the NORML organizers who accompanied it and handed out fliers were out of place at a family-friendly event.
“When you promote drug legalization on a float in a parade, it can give a really bad message to children,” Snelling said. “I believe in free speech, but I think there is a time and a place to conduct speech referring to legalization of drugs, and a children’s parade is not that place.”
Snelling also questioned if the members of the Central Florida NORML chapter used deception to get the float in the parade. She said when she first saw the float it was an unadorned boat, but when she came back 20 minutes later, the wagon was festooned with NORML banners. Atop the green and white float was a fake 10-foot marijuana cigarette, painted red on the tip as if burning.

#no2pot

Legalization for treatment to include adults with cancers, Parkinson’s disease, ALS and MLS.
Florida no longer needs Amendment 2. 

A strain of low-THC marijuana would be legal in Florida for medical use under a bill passed by the Legislature.
THERE IS NOT NEED FOR AMENDMENT 2!
 

Basically what this amendment is doing is legalizing pot. Really it's a facade to say it's medical marijuana. That's not the end game of this movement," he said. "Marijuana use is harmful, addictive and is a gateway drug."