Voters Again Face Medical Marijuana Decision On The Ballot
October 24, 2016
With medical marijuana already a reality in Florida, voters will decide in November whether to vastly expand the types of patients who are eligible for the treatment.
It’s the second time Floridians will weigh in on a medical-marijuana constitutional amendment, with the first proposal narrowly failing in 2014 to capture the 60 percent approval required for passage.
But the evolving politics of pot, an already-established marijuana industry and increased voter turnout for the presidential election improve the odds of passage in 2016.
“It’s not a newfangled wild proposition. Five million Florida voters have already considered the issue, and it nearly passed with that electorate that is a much more conservative electorate than we have this time,” University of Florida political science professor Daniel Smith, who specializes in ballot initiatives, said in a recent telephone interview. “The establishment was much more opposed to medical marijuana two years ago than they are today. … So the fearmongering ‘the sky will fall’ argument is two years put to rest.”
The proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot appears to have overwhelming support, according to recent polls. A Florida Chamber of Commerce poll found that 73 percent of likely voters endorse the measure, after 58 percent voted for the 2014 version.
Partly to fend off the 2014 pot proposal, Florida lawmakers that year authorized non-euphoric marijuana for patients with epilepsy, chronic muscle spasms or cancer. The 2014 law also set up a regulatory structure for the marijuana industry. The Legislature this year expanded the law to allow full-strength marijuana for terminally ill patients.
But supporters of the proposed constitutional amendment say the Florida law does nothing for a host of severely ill patients who could benefit from the treatment.
Backers of the initiative, now titled “Use of Marijuana for Debilitating Illnesses” and appearing on the ballot as Amendment 2, tweaked the 2014 version to address criticisms from opponents.
For example, the revised proposal tightened language regarding minors — a major source of contention for opponents two years ago — and now requires parental consent before doctors can recommend the marijuana treatment for children, something supporters of the amendment insist is already required by state law.
The revamped proposal added epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder to a list of “debilitating” medical conditions — cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis — that qualify patients for the treatment.
And it added language that would allow physicians to recommend medical marijuana for patients with “other debilitating medical conditions of the same kind or class as or comparable” to those named in the amendment and for which the doctor believes “that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for the patients.”
But critics insist the provision giving doctors leeway to recommend the treatment for unspecified illnesses amounts to “de facto legalization” of pot.
A recent television ad featuring Sheriff Sandra Hutchens of Orange County, Calif., warns that the amendment would expose Florida to a host of horribles experienced in her state, which in 1996 became the first to legalize medical marijuana.
“Thousands of pot shops pushing pot for things like trouble sleeping and anxiety. Only 3 percent of so-called patients have cancer or AIDS. Amendment 2 isn’t about helping the sick. It’s about legalizing pot. In California, we learned that, the hard way. Don’t let it happen to Florida,” Hutchens says on the ad.
But John Morgan, an Orlando trial lawyer who has largely bankrolled the amendment effort, dismissed such criticism.
“If I wanted to legalize marijuana, that’s what I would have done,” says Morgan, who has spent at least $2.6 million of his and his law firm’s money so far this year on the initiative.
Morgan frequently contrasts marijuana, a natural substance, with deadly prescription drugs that cause 14,000 overdoses annually and hook tens of thousands of other people.
“All I know is this. They could put up these scare tactics and these pictures of bud tenders. … But this is not a pharmaceutical and guess what? Thank God it’s not. Man made opioids. God made pot. I’m going to go with God every single time when it comes to me. And by the way, marijuana has never killed one person,” Morgan said during a recent debate.
While Morgan is still a major player in the effort to pass the measure, the bombastic trial lawyer has toned down his approach.
Two years ago, Morgan — the chairman of People United for Medical Marijuana, the political committee behind the marijuana initiative — used a bus tour to promote the proposal to college students.
In one of many appearances across the state, Morgan was caught on tape delivering a boozy, expletive-laced monologue to what appears to be a crowd of young supporters at a bar after a rally in the Lakeland area.
Morgan said in a recent telephone interview that he decided that “less of me is more” this year as he tries to pass the amendment.
“I believe that you have to learn from the past, and last time I think that the bus tour was good at that time, but I don’t think it would be good for this time,” Morgan said. “I just think it’s better to have this time a more cerebral discussion than a rock-and-roll tour.”
On the other side, some of the same opponents who helped kill the measure two years ago are again contributing to the “No on 2″ campaign.
Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson — who dumped $5.5 million into the Drug Free Florida Committee in 2014 — contributed $1.5 million to the committee last month. The Carol Jenkins Barnett Family Trust gave the committee $800,000 in July. The trust, associated with the daughter of Publix Super Markets founder George Jenkins, also contributed $540,000 in 2014 to the committee. Tampa Bay developer Mel Sembler has also contributed $1 million this year to try to defeat the proposal.
Morgan frequently points out that one of measure’s harshest critics two years ago — the Florida Sheriffs Association — hasn’t formally opposed this year’s initiative.
But numerous sheriffs are speaking out against it. Also, the Florida Police Chiefs Association urged voters this week to oppose the amendment.
“First and foremost, this is something that should not be in our Constitution,” Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell told The News Service of Florida.
Opponents like Prummell have made much of a Department of Health estimate predicting the amendment could spawn up to 2,000 dispensaries across the state, warning that a proliferation of “pot shops” could lead to a repeat of the prescription-drug epidemic that branded Florida as the pill-mill capital of the country not long ago.
Morgan also likes to say that Attorney General Pam Bondi, who opposed the measure in 2014, has been silent on the issue this year.
But Bondi said her position hasn’t changed.
“I continue to believe that Amendment 2 will expand the use and access of marijuana in Florida, especially among our youth,” Bondi said in an email, adding that she supports the state’s current law. “Unlike legislation, an amendment will be a permanent part of our Constitution and would be difficult to reverse if found detrimental to public health and safety.”
Amendment 2 could allow medical marijuana as an option for an estimated 500,000 patients in Florida, making it the second-largest market in the country. Two dozen other states have already legalized medical marijuana.
The outcome of Florida’s election is “critically important” for marijuana issues nationwide, according to United for Care campaign manager Ben Pollara.
“The success or failure of a medical marijuana initiative in a big, politically diverse state like Florida is going to be very meaningful for the future of medical marijuana initiatives as the advocacy industry moves towards full legalization away from medical,” he said.
While a number of states are considering marijuana initiatives this fall, the cannabis industry is focused on elections in Florida and California, where voters will decide whether to legalize pot for recreational use.
“Unless both of those pass, it will be a devastating blow to marijuana reform efforts for the next decade,” Pollara said.
by Dara Kam, The News Service of Florida
Two Injured In Ten Mile Crash
October 24, 2016
At least two people were injured in a two vehicle crash Sunday night at Ten Mile Road and Palafox Street. Both were transported to area hospitals by ambulance. The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. Further details have not been released. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Firefighters Respond To Smoke Filled Home In Flomaton
October 23, 2016
Firefighters responded to a smoke-filled home in Flomaton Sunday morning. The smoke was possibly from a heating unit.
The Flomaton, Friendship and Lambeth fire departments from Alabama and the Century and McDavid stations of Escambia Fire Rescue responded.
There were no injuries.
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Silver Alert Issued For Missing Escambia County Woman
October 23, 2016
A Florida Silver Alert has been activated for 83-year old Shirley Cooey out of Escambia County.
She was last seen in the 8700 block of Rebel Road in the Beulah area. She may be traveling in a 2003, white Hyundai Sonata, Florida tag number K528XD
She has gray hair, blue eyes, is 5-foot 2-inches tall and weights 150 pounds.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts should call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620 or 911.
Pope Appoints Tate Graduate As New Bishop Of Memphis
October 23, 2016
Bishop Martin Holley, a graduate of Tate High School, was appointed by Pope Francis and recently installed as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Memphis.
“With faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the love of God in my heart, I do accept the pastoral care of the people of God in the Diocese of Memphis,” declared Bishop Holley after the papal mandate appointing him to Memphis was read. “I resolve to faithfully serve the Church in this diocese.”. He was installed during a ceremony at the Cook Convention Center.
After making his pronouncement, Bishop Holley was presented with a crosier, his shepherd’s staff, and escorted to his cathedral, his bishop’s chair – the symbols of his authority.
The crowd of nearly 3,000 who attended the Mass burst into cheers and gave a standing ovation as the new bishop of Memphis assumed his post. He was then welcomed by representatives of his new diocese, and by members of other faiths in the city of Memphis.
In his first homily to his new flock, Bishop Holley urged them to “love others as Jesus has loved us.” “In God’s love, we find the fullness of grace, life, peace and joy,” he said.
During his installation Mass, Bishop Holley noted that his episcopal motto is “His mercy endures forever.”
He urged the faithful of Memphis “to love and to bring the mercy of Jesus Christ into the lives of those who need to know His love and mercy.”
One of Bishop Holley’s first acts after officially becoming the Bishop of Memphis was to join Catholic Charities volunteers in assembling bags of food and other items for the homeless.
Holley was born in Pensacola. While his mother was pregnant with the future bishop, she, along with her husband and their seven older children, converted to the Catholic faith. When Holley was born on Dec. 31, 1954, he was named after the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Cantonment, the family’s new parish priest. Bishop Holley is the 8th of 14 children of Sylvester and Mary Holley, both of whom are deceased.
Bishop Holley attended Catholic elementary schools and was captain of the basketball team at Tate High School, where he is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, and then attended Faulkner State Junior College in Bay Minette, AL. He played basketball and earned a degree in management at Alabama State University in Montgomery, where he was named the university’s outstanding collegian.
Having felt the call to the priesthood from a young age, Bishop Holley attended Theological College in Washington and completed his seminary studies at St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton, Beach, Florida. He was ordained as a priest of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in 1987.
In Florida, then-Father Holley served as a parochial vicar and later administrator of St. Mary Parish in Fort Walton Beach. He also served at St. Paul and Little Flower parishes in Pensacola. He served as spiritual director of the Serra Club of West Florida, which promotes vocations to the priesthood, and since 1983, he has been a member of the Joint Conference of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus.
Bishop Holley was ordained as a bishop of Washington in 2004 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
Courtesy photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Hundreds Attend Williams Station Day; Dancers Dazzle Crowd (With Gallery)
October 23, 2016
Hundreds attended the annual Williams Station Day in Atmore Saturday, including a large crowd for the day’s entertainment — including Twirl Time and the Northview High School Dance Team.
Williams Station Day takes its name from Atmore’s early history when in 1866 the community was a supply stop along the Mobile and Great Northern railroad. Festival-goers were entertained by a wide variety of musical acts, and a wide variety of arts and crafts were also available
For a photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
It’s a Tradition: Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere (With Photo Gallery)
October 23, 2016
Looking for a pumpkin? The Allen Memorial United Methodist Church Men’s Pumpkin Patch is open once again this year at the corner of Highway 29 and Neal Road in Cantonment. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes are available, with some priced as low as $1. The pumpkin patch is open daily from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Organizers said hundreds of pumpkins have been sold far this year.
The church held its annual Fall Festival on Saturday with free activities for children, and plenty of food from the Methodist Men, including smoked turkey legs.
For a photo gallery, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Northview Tribal Beat Earns Overall Superior At Dixieland Band Competition
October 23, 2016
The Northview High School Tribal Beat Band received an overall Superior rating Saturday during the Dixieland Band Competition at at T.R. Miller High School in Brewton.
The Tribal Beat earned a “1″ rating for drum major, percussion and music, and a “2″ rating for majorettes/color guard.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Amerson, click to enlarge.
Forest Service Continues To Warn Against Outdoor Burning
October 23, 2016
The Florida Forest Service is continuing to warn residents of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties not to conduct any outdoor burning for the next few days.
The entire area is in the midst of of an extended dry spell, plus a passing cold front brought higher winds and lower humidity. There is no rain in the forecast for at least the next week.
Even well-intended backyard fires can be very dangerous, according to the Forest Service.
“Cleaning up is fine but we would recommend that folks not burn their yard debris until we see some relief,” said David Smith, operations administrator for the Florida Forest Service’s Blackwater District. The Forest Service has also suspended permits for large piles and acreage burns.
Pictured: A brush fire burned about an acre on Handy Road in Cantonment Saturday afternoon. NorthEscambia.com photos by Kristi Barbour, click to enlarge.
Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Beginning To Look Familiar
October 23, 2016
A major figure in the Clinton White House visited Florida this week as part of a bid for the presidency. The two political parties fought over election rules in court. And there was talk of a rigged election.
Welcome back to 2000.
There are some significant differences between the storylines of the current day and those of 16 years ago. It’s now former First Lady (and, since then, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton running for office, instead of then-Vice President Al Gore. The fights in court are about the rules before the votes are counted rather than after. And talk of a vast conspiracy to fix the results was mostly confined to the fringes back then; this year, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has taken up the mantle.
Still, it was hard to look at it all and not consider the idea often attributed to Mark Twain that while history doesn’t repeat itself, it does rhyme.
Floridians hope that rhyming is all there is. The last thing anyone wants is for 2000 to repeat itself for real.
SIX YEARS — BARRING DIVINE INTERVENTION
The U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican Marco Rubio and Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy has remained largely in the shadows this year as Clinton and Trump have fought over Florida’s 29 electoral votes. But the race began to emerge this week with the first of what now looks to be two debates between Rubio and Murphy.
The headline of the debate was Rubio coming as close as he has to committing to serve the entirety of a second term in the Senate — unless a higher authority weighs in.
“I’m going to serve in the Senate for the next six years, God willing,” Rubio said.
It was pushback against one of Murphy’s most persistent charges against Rubio — that the Republican all but abandoned his seat to run for president in 2016 and might do so again in 2020 if Trump fails to capture the White House, as looks increasingly likely.
Rubio’s comment appeared to catch Murphy off guard. A few moments later, the Democrat rattled off that Rubio still hadn’t vowed to “commit to serving a full term,” as he responded to a question about his own business career.
“That’s a line he practiced before I said what I actually said today,” remarked Rubio.
There was a note of irony to the call-out, given that Rubio’s presidential campaign stumbled badly after he repeated a line almost verbatim four times at a debate, something that N.J. Gov. Chris Christie was quick to point out.
But 2016 politics is still 2016 politics, and Trump loomed over the debate. Murphy slammed Rubio for refusing to unendorse the Republican candidate despite offensive comments about women, immigrants and others.
“If you can’t stand up to Donald Trump as a candidate, how in the world are you going to stand up to him as the president of the United States?” Murphy asked. “This is about what he’s done. Think of how unqualified he is. Just a couple of weeks (ago) it came out that he’s violated the (Cuba) embargo, something that I know you care a lot about. And you still stand by his side.”
Rubio, repeated a line he rolled out prior to the debate, that neither presidential candidate is inspirational. And that while he disagrees with a lot of what Trump says and does, Rubio said he disagrees with everything from Clinton.
“I don’t trust either one of them, and the job of a U.S. senator is not to blindly follow the president because they happen to be from your own party,” Rubio said.
For the record, Rubio rejected Trump’s assertions that the presidential election could be rigged. Whether his attempts to distance himself from the nominee are working is questionable after a new poll this week showed the Senate race is essentially a dead heat.
Rubio led by two points, 49 percent to 47 percent, in a Quinnipiac University poll conducted before the debate. That’s well within the poll’s margin of error.
DO YOU KNOW ‘JIU-JITSU’?
Groups that support solar power and oppose Amendment 1 on this year’s ballot have long argued that the utility-backed initiative is not exactly on the up-and-up. Now, an official with a Tallahassee-based think tank might have given them some evidence.
The Miami Herald first reported on an audio tape in which James Madison Institute Vice President of Policy Sal Nuzzo described how to use a “little bit of political jiu-jitsu” by promoting solar to win support for desired changes in policy. His comments came while speaking Oct. 2 at the “Energy/Environment Leadership Summit” in Nashville, Tenn.
“The point I would make, maybe the takeaway, is as you guys look at policy in your state or constitutional ballot initiatives in your state, remember this: Solar polls very well,” Nuzzo said on the tape, which has been posted online.
Amendment 1 foes jumped on a tape as evidence of utility-industry efforts to deceive voters.
“Amendment 1 is a con job and scam perpetuated on Florida voters,” said Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, on a conference call following the tape’s release. “And we just have to get that word out.”
But the group Consumers for Smart Solar, which has led efforts to pass the proposed constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot, said the James Madison Institute wasn’t involved in planning or drafting the proposal.
Meanwhile, the James Madison Institute said Nuzzo misspoke about the conservative think tank having any role with Consumers for Smart Solar. The institute supports the initiative, which it says would provide consumer protection.
The Consumers for Smart Solar amendment would enshrine in the Florida Constitution existing rules regarding the use of solar energy by private property owners.
The proposal also includes a more contentious provision, which states that those who haven’t installed solar on their property “are not required to subsidize the costs of backup power and electric grid access to those who do.”
Proponents say the second provision provides consumer protections for people who don’t install solar panels. Opponents say it could result in “discriminatory charges” against rooftop solar users and limit the desire of people to go solar.
VOTING WRITES
While candidates and advocates were fighting for votes, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker was refereeing fights over how Floridians can cast ballots. The judge has been saddled with the task of wrangling order out of a pair of cases that could help decide the outcome of the Nov. 8 elections.
He opened the week by blasting a state law regarding vote-by-mail ballots as “indefensible” and arguing it threatened to disenfranchise voters.
The 30-page ruling focused on situations in which voters’ signatures submitted with mail-in ballots do not appear to match signatures on file with county supervisors of elections. Under a 2004 law, such mail-in ballots are rejected.
But siding with the Florida Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee in a lawsuit filed against Secretary of State Ken Detzner, Walker issued a preliminary injunction ordering a process that would allow voters to resolve questions about such “mismatched signature ballots” — and have the ballots counted.
A key part of Walker’s ruling was that state law has allowed voters a process to fix — or, in legal parlance, “cure” — vote-by-mail ballots that do not include signatures. But it has not allowed a similar process for when signatures do not appear to match.
“It is illogical, irrational, and patently bizarre for the state of Florida to withhold the opportunity to cure from mismatched-signature voters while providing that same opportunity to no-signature voters,” Walker wrote. “And in doing so, the state of Florida has categorically disenfranchised thousands of voters arguably for no reason other than they have poor handwriting or their handwriting has changed over time.”
Walker, meanwhile, rejected Democrats’ efforts to draw him back into a case on voter registration after the judge ordered a one-week extension in the deadline for Floridians to sign up to cast ballots.
Siding with Detzner, Walker turned aside a request that he order elections officials to do more in processing tens of thousands of forms that poured in after the judge gave voters more time to register following Hurricane Matthew.
Democrats wanted Walker to call for more forceful action to make sure that all new, legal voter registration forms were verified by Sunday, the day before early voting starts in 50 of Florida’s 67 counties. They also wanted Detzner to be required to issue updated lists of registered voters as the process continues and for the judge “to clarify” that voters whose forms were still being verified could cast regular ballots, instead of provisional ones.
But Detzner and local elections officials argued that it would be difficult to process the registrations any faster and dismissed as implausible other ideas like having poll workers call to check on the status of pending registration forms.
“We can’t work people any harder, and we don’t have any more people,” said Bob Pass, an attorney for Detzner.
STORY OF THE WEEK: The U.S. Senate race between Sen. Marco Rubio and Congressman Patrick Murphy started shaping up as the two traded fire at a debate, and polls in the contest appeared to tighten.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We have 67 counties in this state, each of which conduct their own elections. I promise you there is not a 67-county conspiracy to rig this election.”—U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, trying to tamp down talk of fixed elections, during a Senate debate Monday.
by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida