Cannabis is now the litmus test for belief in personal freedoms and whether politicians are (or are not) elected to serve the will of the people. The voters have spoken, recent polls confirm. Apparently, Florida politicians are listening.
A few months ago, the Smart and Safe adult use initiative was filed. It has already garnered nearly enough signatures to be reviewed in the Supreme Court and continue its way to the 2024 ballot. Unfortunately, Florida’s strict single-subject rule doesn’t allow for more than one subject to be addressed on any ballot initiative.
To solve this, a home cultivation voter initiative is set to launch in the next in the next month.
These subjects already poll high with voters, including a majority of Republican voters. But the gap between voters’ sentiments and politicians’ actions is narrower than ever, as the passionate freedom fighting of the pandemic has shone a bright light on this singular gaping disparity over a plant.
Medical freedom is an overarching theme, and the days of cannabis being somehow the one exception are behind us. In the south, we prefer voters’ will be fulfilled in Tallahassee rather than through amending the Constitution: and a few politicians are leading the charge to do just that.
Despite years of advocacy by patients and parents, many Florida patients are still unable to access the legal market due to expense or inaccessibility. If the medical program isn’t fixed before adult use makes it to the ballot in 2024, it’s likely to take a back seat to recreational and eventually disappear as it has in Colorado and other states that have legalized before us. Some Florida politicians seem dedicated to avoiding those same pitfalls.
These conversations include reciprocity, telehealth, employee protections, research, and discounting State fees for medical recommendation cards for vets and children (which is currently double the price of adult recommendations). It’s also likely that the legislature will directly address home cultivation as part of broadening the current medical program.
This will reduce costs and increase the ability to access personalized medicine for Florida’s low income and disabled populations. A parent like myself with a child diagnosed with brain cancer would be able to juice non-psychoactive raw plant material (which is one of the world’s most effective anti-inflammatories) for a tenth of the cost as the current market provides.
There are a million examples of how and why. But at the end of the day, the truth is that most voters just want freedom. It’s relieving to know we’re no longer having to fight tooth and nail to have our voices heard, especially while already fighting for our children’s or loved ones’ lives.
If freedom is important to you, you should be watching this journey closely. The most we can all do at this moment is to call and write into our elected officials to let them know this is what voters want: freedom.
Moriah Barnhart is a pediatric cancer mom, a member of FDACS’ Hemp and Medical Marijuana advisory boards, and co-founder of the nonprofits CannaMoms and WISEFlorida.org.
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