Organizers who want medical marijuana legalized in Florida have completed the first step toward getting a proposed constitutional amendment on next year's ballot. They've gathered enough signatures to submit their proposal to the Florida Supreme Court for review.
People United for Medical Marijuana wants Florida to join the 19 other states where residents can legally use the drug.
It took the group less than a month to obtain more than 100,000 petition signatures. That's well over the amount needed for a court review, but it's still far less than the 683,149 signatures required to get the proposal on the ballot.The court will determine whether the proposal meets constitutional requirements. The ballot language can only cover one subject and must be easy to understand.
If the court approves, paid petition gatherers have until February 1st to get the necessary voter signatures verified.
Orlando attorney John Morgan is helping fund the effort. He says marijuana helped ease the pain for his father as he was dying of cancer 20 years ago.
Morgan's law firm employs former Gov. Charlie Crist, who may decide to run for governor again, this time as a Democrat.