The organization trying to legalize medical marijuana in Florida is baffled and annoyed by a conclusion from fact-checkers at the Politifact website that their proposal would create one of the most lenient pot laws in the country.
Based on the freedom doctors would have to recommend marijuana, and the open-ended list of medical conditions that would qualify, Attorney General Pam Bondi argued the proposed amendment would make Florida "one of the most lenient medical marijuana states."
Bondi made that claim in her state Supreme Court argument to prevent the proposed medical marijuana amendment from reaching the ballot. Ben Pollara is the campaign manager for the medical marijuana group, United for Care. He disagrees with Bondi and PolitiFact.
"Their conclusions is more or less a mixed bag but they put that their rating is mostly true", said Pollara.Pollara sees contradictions in that conclusion. PolitiFact points out there is no provision for Florida patients to grow their own marijuana, as there is in several states, and no protection for them if they fail drug tests. Pollara's group is nearing its signature gathering goal for bringing the issue to the voters. He doesn’t think that Bondi's statement, now certified by PolitiFact, will hurt the effort. But he doesn't want Floridians to think a medical marijuana system would not be tightly regulated.
"There is broad support for medical marijuana in the state of Florida but there is not broad support for legalization of marijuana", Pollara said.
Twenty states now allow medical marijuana under a variety of regulatory schemes. Despite PolitiFact's conclusion that Florida's law lenient, much of Florida's proposed regulation is as strict as in any other state.