Florida is one of the biggest producers and consumers of medicinal marijuana in the country.
This election Florida voters will decide whether marijuana should be available to millions more, allowing anyone age 21 or older to get and use marijuana without a prescription.
53-year-old Jeff Rexford knows there are plenty of amendment skeptics, but he hopes voters will reconsider like he did.
“Years ago, I was not a fan of marijuana,” said Rexford. “I mean, you were getting it from your corner drug dealer on the street.”
Rexford has changed his mind about marijuana because he says it has changed his life. He says he once used pain pills for his back pain but says those medications made him feel like a “zombie” because he’d get so drowsy. He says pot gummies are a better solution for him now.
“They just immediately just take away my pain. I'd say within about 30 minutes I start feeling relief. And if I want to have instant relief, I'll smoke a pre-rolled joint.”
Rexford picks up his medical marijuana at a Sunnyside dispensary in Cape Coral every week. He says his daily dose has also improved his marriage — it’s helped him with his long battle with anxiety and depression.
“It helps me communicate with my wife in a more civil matter. Not screaming or yelling. You know, if I was excited about something. It's just a more relaxed feeling,” said Rexford.
Rexford is one of nearly 900,000 people currently holding a medical marijuana card in Florida. He thinks more Floridians could see similar benefits if it were easier to get marijuana and that’s why he supports the legalization of recreational marijuana. He doesn’t fully understand the opposition.
“It's an uneducated age thing. The older adults, the older baby boomers, they looked at that as a party drug. You know, they didn't realize back in the '60s and '70s that it had benefit to it,” said Rexford. “And now as science has progressed and we learn more things about it, there is verifiable proof that says marijuana helps many things: anxiety, depression, pain relief, many things.”
Fort Myers businessman Cole Peacock also supports the measure but for more than just the personal physical benefits.
“It's a proven job creator,” said Peacock.
Peacock is co-owner of the Caloosahatchee Cannabis company in downtown Fort Myers—a café where you’ll find everything from coffee to beer infused with CBD, one of the active ingredients in the cannabis plant that doesn’t make people high. Peacock would like to be able to add recreational marijuana to his café’s products. He hopes to get a recreational marijuana dispensary license from the state if voters approve Amendment 3. He’s seen the benefits in his customers' lives as well as his own.
“It covers my back pain, muscle soreness, sleep potential and anxiety when things are taking place,” said Peacock.
The entrepreneur and business consultant helped push the passage of medical marijuana in Florida. Peacock says the state economy will benefit financially by expanding into recreational pot as long as it’s regulated carefully—pointing to the state’s successful oversight of medical marijuana.
“It pays very well and pays on average more than most industries do. It touches everything from construction to development to marketing to science to pure agricultural growing,” said Peacock. “You have got to have buildings to grow facilities. They're large, massive facilities.”
One of these new massive facilities was recently opened in North Florida. The 750,00 square foot cultivation facility built by Trulieve, Florida’s largest marijuana producer, is now one of the largest of its kind in the country.
There are currently more than 660 dispensaries in the state — about 30 in Southwest Florida. It’s estimated the medical marijuana industry generates more than $2 billion in sales annually but medical pot isn’t taxed. Proponents of Amendment 3 tout that recreational marijuana could be. Some economists predict pot sales could triple if the measure passes and that could generate at least $200 million or more in state and local revenues each year.
But Deborah Grochala sees danger in passing the proposal because of the mental health impacts she and her family have experienced.
“My son really showed psychosis while smoking marijuana. He thought that the FBI was listening in on phone calls. He thought his girlfriend was having an affair. He thought people were, actually listening in on him when he was at home. You know, he actually was really, very, very out there,” said Grochala.
She is a behavioral health technician at Valiant Recovery in Punta Gorda, which treats people struggling with substance use disorder. She says many people are unaware of the potential risk between frequent pot use and psychosis—a disconnection from reality. She’s in recovery from substance abuse herself. She says pot caused her severe paranoia.
“I've had psychosis with marijuana when I smoked it back before it was even this potent as it is now--thinking that people were talking about me. A lot of just weird, mental things going on.” said Grochala.
While marijuana’s long-term risks are still being researched, there is growing evidence of potentially severe side effects. Several studies including two from Britain and Denmark suggest a link between the frequent use of pot and psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia. Scientists believe it’s the high levels of THC--the mind-altering chemical in cannabis--that can trigger the disorders in people who have a genetic predisposition to them. The federal government says three in 10 people who use marijuana will develop cannabis use disorder.
Gregory Collora is one of them. He is now a counselor at Valiant Recovery.
“I was first introduced to it probably around 15 or 16, and it consumed my life after I smoked it,” said Collora.
He says pot was a gateway drug for him.
“I began going down the darker path of what comes with drug addiction. I began trying to sell it, buying more of it, and it led me down a dark and dangerous road much further than I had anticipated going in the beginning,” said Collora. “I thought it was just going to be fun and something to do. Recreational. And it turned into a lifelong disease.”
Collora and Grochala say legalizing pot would put more lives at risk and not just those who use it.
“Having marijuana be out there as accessible as alcohol is, it's only inviting more danger to people on the streets,” said Collora. “I look through our county sheriff’s website every morning and see all the DUIs and people being irresponsible, and I just feel this is going to be another way for that to happen.”
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, who now leads the Florida Sheriff’s Association, echoes Collora’s concerns. He expects to see more DUIs, involving marijuana, if the measure is approved. He believes the state will not see the tax benefits touted by proponents of recreational marijuana.
“They say for every dollar earned in so-called tax revenue on recreational marijuana, there's $4.50 in expenses with regards to emergency room visits and law enforcement and the whole gamut,” said Prummell.
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