burnin1
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From Cannabis Culture c/o Rolling Stone
Why Marijuana Could Be Legal in Florida as Soon as 2020
By Xander Peters, Rolling Stone on August 17, 2019
It’s was a rocky road to medical marijuana, but a new push towards full recreational legalization could put an initiative on the 2020 ballot — and it’s looking like there’s plenty of support.
For years, the possibility of legalizing recreational adult-use marijuana in Florida was little more than an afterthought — but in recently, momentum’s picked up. In 2016, Florida voters approved an initiative that legalized medical cannabis, only for state lawmakers to subsequently ban smokeable forms until earlier this year. Now, legal recreational marijuana in Florida may be a reality as soon as 2020.
One of the signs of cannabis-related change next year is the new political committee Make It Legal Florida, which registered with the state earlier this month. It’s chaired by Nick Hansen, a longtime advisor to Republican State Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg, who recently took on the role of southeastern director of government affairs at MedMen, the California company that’s attempting to take the retail pot world by storm. The company currently has a store in West Palm Beach and a delivery service in Orlando, and will soon have a chain of locations across the state (at least 11 additional stores are “coming soon,” according to MedMen’s website.) At this point, these dispensaries are for medical patients only.
Then there’s the advocacy group Regulate Florida, which is also backing a proposed 2020 amendment to legalize marijuana, has gathered more than 83,000 signatures so far, campaign manager and Tampa-based lawyer Michael Minardi tells Rolling Stone. Under Florida law, that’s enough to trigger a judicial review by the Florida Supreme Court and a financial impact review. From there, if successful, 766,200 signatures from at least 14 of the state’s 27 counties are required to get the referendum on the 2020 election ballot. “We’re very confident that we’ll pass the Supreme Court review,” Minardi says, adding that he thinks the economic review will also come out “very favorable in regards to the benefits it will provide to the economy” in Florida.
Then there’s Orlando attorney John Morgan, a brash, heavy-hitting financial power player in the Sunshine State and the co-founder of the class action and personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan. Notably in the weed world, though, Morgan was the funds-plugging maestro who spent millions of dollars of his own fortune to bankroll a 2014 push for medical marijuana in Florida, which barely failed to meet the required 60 percent supermajority threshold among voters. Morgan’s efforts were in part foiled by billionaire conservative Sheldon Adelson, who donated more than $5 million to the initiative’s opposition campaign. Righteously pissed off after spending roughly $4 million of his money in 2014, Morgan plugged about $7 million into the 2016 initiative to legalize medical marijuana, which 71 percent of Florida voters approved.
– Read the entire article at Rolling Stone.
https://www.cannabisculture.com/con...na-could-be-legal-in-florida-as-soon-as-2020/
Why Marijuana Could Be Legal in Florida as Soon as 2020
By Xander Peters, Rolling Stone on August 17, 2019
It’s was a rocky road to medical marijuana, but a new push towards full recreational legalization could put an initiative on the 2020 ballot — and it’s looking like there’s plenty of support.
For years, the possibility of legalizing recreational adult-use marijuana in Florida was little more than an afterthought — but in recently, momentum’s picked up. In 2016, Florida voters approved an initiative that legalized medical cannabis, only for state lawmakers to subsequently ban smokeable forms until earlier this year. Now, legal recreational marijuana in Florida may be a reality as soon as 2020.
One of the signs of cannabis-related change next year is the new political committee Make It Legal Florida, which registered with the state earlier this month. It’s chaired by Nick Hansen, a longtime advisor to Republican State Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg, who recently took on the role of southeastern director of government affairs at MedMen, the California company that’s attempting to take the retail pot world by storm. The company currently has a store in West Palm Beach and a delivery service in Orlando, and will soon have a chain of locations across the state (at least 11 additional stores are “coming soon,” according to MedMen’s website.) At this point, these dispensaries are for medical patients only.
Then there’s the advocacy group Regulate Florida, which is also backing a proposed 2020 amendment to legalize marijuana, has gathered more than 83,000 signatures so far, campaign manager and Tampa-based lawyer Michael Minardi tells Rolling Stone. Under Florida law, that’s enough to trigger a judicial review by the Florida Supreme Court and a financial impact review. From there, if successful, 766,200 signatures from at least 14 of the state’s 27 counties are required to get the referendum on the 2020 election ballot. “We’re very confident that we’ll pass the Supreme Court review,” Minardi says, adding that he thinks the economic review will also come out “very favorable in regards to the benefits it will provide to the economy” in Florida.
Then there’s Orlando attorney John Morgan, a brash, heavy-hitting financial power player in the Sunshine State and the co-founder of the class action and personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan. Notably in the weed world, though, Morgan was the funds-plugging maestro who spent millions of dollars of his own fortune to bankroll a 2014 push for medical marijuana in Florida, which barely failed to meet the required 60 percent supermajority threshold among voters. Morgan’s efforts were in part foiled by billionaire conservative Sheldon Adelson, who donated more than $5 million to the initiative’s opposition campaign. Righteously pissed off after spending roughly $4 million of his money in 2014, Morgan plugged about $7 million into the 2016 initiative to legalize medical marijuana, which 71 percent of Florida voters approved.
– Read the entire article at Rolling Stone.
https://www.cannabisculture.com/con...na-could-be-legal-in-florida-as-soon-as-2020/
