Jacksonville Criminal Lawyer Blog
Medical marijuana is now legal in one form or another in twenty states and the District of Columbia. Florida, however, is not one of those states. In some of these states, medical marijuana has been legal for more than a decade. In those states, civilization has not, in fact, deteriorated into anarchy. But like what seems to increasingly include most of the civilized world, Florida is slowly but surely making its way towards consideration of marijuana as a viable medicine and not the evil plant involved in the most expensive, ineffective and counterproductive policy in the history of mankind, also known as the war on drugs.
This month, the Florida Division of Election has certified enough signatures to get a medical marijuana bill on the ballot for November of 2014. The language of the law still must be determined. If the measure can get at least 60% of the votes, a law legalizing medical marijuana law would be in effect in Florida. If not, Florida taxpayers would continue to finance the arrests, prosecution, incarceration and criminal processing of large numbers of marijuana defendants at an incredibly expensive, repetitive and wasteful rate.
A recent poll found that 65% of people in Florida favor legalizing medical marijuana, although you can not tell how accurate such a poll is especially before the proposed law has even been written.