A political committee leading a renewed effort to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana raised nearly $293,000 in June, with about $233,000 of the money coming from an Orlando law firm headed by prominent trial attorney John Morgan, according to a newly filed report.
The committee, People United for Medical Marijuana, is spearheading an effort to pass a medical-marijuana ballot initiative in November 2016, after narrowly failing to pass a similar constitutional amendment in 2014.
In all, the committee reported raising about $373,000 this year. Also making a large contribution in June was Coral Gables retiree Barbara Stiefel, who gave $40,000, according to the report.
The committee also spent about $265,000 in June, with $188,000 of that amount going to California-based PCI Consultants, Inc., which works on petition drives.
To get on the ballot, backers of the medical-marijuana initiative need to submit 683,149 petition signatures and get Florida Supreme Court approval of the proposed ballot wording.
As of Monday morning, the state Division of Elections had not received any valid petitions for the initiative, according to the division's website.
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