Florida's ballot initiative to legalize recreational cannabis has divided the state's growing medical cannabis industry.
The state's largest medical cannabis company has bankrolled Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older. But some of the roughly 2,000 doctors who are state-certified to recommend pot as medicine are warning patients about the consequences that could jeopardize access to the drug for medicinal purposes.
They say the new amendment could imperil access for the state's 882,000 active medical cannabis patients. The anticipated flood of customers visiting medical marijuana dispensaries to buy recreational marijuana could leave patients without the specific plant strains or products they use to treat medical conditions like chronic pain or a serious illness. And the passage of Amendment 3 could kick off a regulatory overhaul that they say would place future regulation in the hands of a GOP-led Legislature that has already been trying to tighten controls for years.
Pensacola cannabis doctor Michelle Beasley said she should be telling her patients to support Amendment 3. But she cannot forget about language in the medical cannabis law that some people call a "poison pill," which directs the law to expire if voters adopt another cannabis-related amendment for the constitution.
Read more at politico.com