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Sheriffs Say No To Senator’s Pot Proposal
February 4, 2015
After helping defeat a November ballot measure that would have legalized medical marijuana, Florida’s sheriffs said Tuesday they also object to a Republican lawmaker’s attempt to make pot available to patients.
The Florida Sheriffs Association, meeting at Amelia Island, voted to oppose a bill (SB 528) filed by Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, that would allow medical marijuana and set up a detailed regulatory structure involving patients, doctors, growers and retail stores.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who is the association’s legislative chairman, said Brandes’ proposal included “loose language” that the sheriffs worried could allow “de facto recreational use” of marijuana.
Among other things, Gualtieri said the sheriffs oppose any medical marijuana that could be smoked by patients. Cannabis can also be used in other ways, such as in oils.
“You don’t smoke medicine,” Gualtieri told reporters.
Brandes filed his bill last week, less than three months after voters narrowly turned down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have legalized medical marijuana. The sheriffs association and other opponents argued, in part, that the ballot measure included loopholes that would have made marijuana available to people who did not have debilitating medical conditions.
With the annual legislative session starting March 3, it is too early to know whether Brandes’ bill has a chance of passing — or what the effect of the sheriffs’ opposition might be. Brandes’ proposal would need approval from three committees before reaching the Senate floor, and a companion measure has not been filed in the House.
“It is critically important that we thoroughly vet any proposal related to medical cannabis, and I am confident that this legislation will be carefully reviewed through the legislative process,” Brandes said last week in a statement issued after he filed the bill. “Many groups have been working on this initiative for quite some time and my goal is to work openly with all of the interested parties on this issue so that we can pass responsible legislation that provides relief to those Floridians in need.”
If lawmakers do not approve a legalization bill, backers of the 2014 ballot measure have vowed to bring back another proposed constitutional amendment in 2016.
Under Brandes’ bill, patients who suffer from cancer, HIV, AIDS, epilepsy, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease or Parkinson’s disease could qualify to receive medical marijuana if they receive certification from their doctors. Also, patients could qualify if they have conditions that lead them to chronically suffer from symptoms such as wasting syndrome, severe and persistent pain, severe and persistent nausea, persistent seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms, according to the bill.
St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar, president of the sheriffs association, said he likes parts of the bill, such as a provision that would give county commissions control about issues such as whether to allow medical-marijuana retail stores and where the stores could be located. Shoar and Gualtieri also expressed compassion for patients with serious conditions who might be helped by cannabis.
But the association issued a lengthy list of “core legislative principles” that included stances such as opposing medical marijuana that can be smoked. Also, the principles said medical marijuana should be limited to people who have cancer, epilepsy, HIV, AIDS, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, paraplegia, and quadriplegia. Also, exceptions could be made for people who are terminally ill.
“A patient must not receive medical marijuana for general ‘pain’ because pain is not a disease,” one of the principles said. “Pain is one of five vital signs assessed by a medical professional, which also includes temperature, pulse, respirations, and blood pressure.”
by Jim Saunders, The News Service of Florida
Comments
21 Responses to “Sheriffs Say No To Senator’s Pot Proposal”
@ECSO Deputy
Please elaborate on how it ruins lives and families. After Katrina cops went door to door to registered gun owners seizing their weapons (no different then you will do when Homeland Security ie;FEMA takes over) and my cousins family suffered after people broke in to loot. He had no means of defense. He smokes. If you asked him, scumbags (through police actions) ruined his family. If it were me after making me a widower and my children motherless, there WOULD be retribution. Then again, he was probably high, thats why it happened huh.
Next we will ask tax preparers and tax collectors if we should abolish the IRS and go to a national flat sales tax system.
County Sheriff’s of Florida say they are against the use of medical mary?
That is BIG news as who woulda thunk that?
Next headline:
Clergy against medical mary !!!
Big tobacco against medical mary!!!
Big booze against medical mary !!!
Cocaine importers against medical mary !!!
Come out and ride with me one night and I will show your that weed is not a harmless plant. It destroys families and lives.
we are becoming a nation of potheads. pretty soon there won’t be anybody left that has any sense.
LPut me down as dead set against “pot freedom”. As a Trailways driver, between Omaha & Chicago, I have to deal with potheads and drunks every trip. Since the Colorado passage these individuals think they are free to smoke it any where/any time. It is still illegal in Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois where i run. Smoke ot and you get a visit with LE AND get put off the bus!
Driving a bus at 70 mph is not a time to deal with passengers causing problems!
Most of thespassengs are coming from Colorado and surrounding states are sueing Colorado over their Law because of the problems Colorado has caused.
And if you dont feel Marijauna doesnt have medical long term health issues an d socity issues you are dreaming or on pot!
A sheriff is to protect and serve. Enforce laws, not make them. Have your opinion as a citizen,not a law enforcer. Maybe if its legal, they won’t need as many officers or jail space. Whatever,people vote. You listen. The voters also voted for sheriff.
Medical marijuana should not be allowed for general pain but synthetic heroin is perfectly allright?? What kind of world do we live in?
As long as the law is upon the books and enforcement required, this will be the case.
Circumstances always alters cases.
Yet in the world we live in, the criminal mind is always 2 or 3 jumps ahead of what the “legal” mind may do.
Now, just for thought…all the Vape Shops being allowed and the influence of being used as a distribution point for Wacky Weed, Bo, Mary guana or by what ever name…the outcome will be the same…bigs bucks will turn the heads of the legislature to allow weed to be dispensed legal or as it as now illegal.
Just color the green, green…it is the color of influence and power.
Put this in your book of wisdom as today’s thought!
Legalize marijuana and there go the easy asset seizures that are such a big part of every Sheriff’s Department budget. In other news, Colorado made so much money in taxes off of legal marijuana that by state law, they have to give some of it back to taxpayers. Peyton Manning reports that business is booming at the 22 Papa John’s franchises he owns in Colorado as well.
The sheriff will always be against this for reasons that have nothing to do with crime. Legalizing cannabis would cut the budget of every law agency in the state.
That is the only reason they really care about.
Medicine has been smoked throughout history, this is about losing the gravy train.
I thought we lived in a country that allowed its citizens FREEDOM? If I cant grow a plant and smoke it then I don’t have freedom. The people in charge are about as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to “pot”. Hopefully they will all retire soon and the next generation can take over and make things better.
@Debugger & Tammy
They DO enjoy putting people in jail. Alot of states write a citation where pot is illegal. Even FWC officers write citations for it when caught on WM areas. Not Deputy Sheriff’s. Court fines of $273, public defender $50, prosecutors $50, probation $50/ per month, investigative costs, and the judge may order sustance abuse and drug testing at your expense and possibly a mental health eval that has absolutely nothing to do with pot just to get a little extra. In just 18 years 50,000. New DOC #’S were given just from this area. Its all about the dollar PERIOD.
So what if it IS for recreational use? There is still no proof it’s any worse for you than cigarettes or alcohol or fast food. I suspect this is just a vocal minority of sheriffs anyway; the ones I know are pro-legalization so they can focus on real crime.
What the sheriffs and leo of the world don’t understand is…this isn’t about them.
Its about helping patients ….that kid who needs it for seizers etc…
Its not about law enforcement.
Leave the doctors to do the doctoring until the LEO agencies get their medical degree.
Arrest those in violation of existing laws…some call it the war on drugs.
This is so VERY sad OUR “Leaders” NEED to EDUCATE themselves .I KNOW PEOPLE IN FLORIDA that GET MEDICAL Marijuana .!! IT HAS MEDICAL Properties ! PEOPLE EDUCATE YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!
They hate seeing Drug War Funding drying up for all those neat military weapons/et cetera and the loss of $$$/property seizures they won’t be using to pad their budgets.
Lets get with the times gentlemen or help out with the wording of a bill. Remember this is for medical issues not like Colorado’s smoke it free for all.
Protect potential sources of revenue.
Legalization would decrease revenues, that resulted from arresting citizens.
Truth and change, no wonder the Council of Trent feared Copernicus so greatly.
I guess they enjoy putting people in jail and treating a majority of citizens, as shown by the 56 % approval vote, like criminals.