Medical marijuana moves closer to November ballot

NAPLES, Fla. – Medical marijuana is one step closer to being on the ballot next November.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled the ballot can move forward if it gets almost 300,000 more signatures. One local group says this time around, they expect it to pass.

“It’s an individual rights issue,” said Jared Grifoni, Chairman for the Collier County Libertarian Party. “You should have control over your own body and if you’re not causing harm to somebody else, then government should have their hands off.”

In 2014, the people did not agree. Medical marijuana fell just short of passing when it was on the ballot then. Grifoni says this time will be different because there’s going to be more people, especially young voters turning out because of the presidential race and they tend to favor medical marijuana.

“You look at some of these harsh drugs that are prescribed and they are far more
dangerous than medical marijuana ever could be,” said Griffoni.

“If Florida legalized marijuana, the state would see a return of the problems we
endured with pill mills a few years ago when Florida was the epicenter of the nation’s prescription drug epidemic,” said Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk in a statement to WINK News.

Grifoni says the 2016 bill is buttoned up far better than in 2014. He says it needs two doctors to sign off on a medical marijuana prescription instead of just one.

“If you’re a cancer patient or someone with H.I.V. and medical marijuana can help
you through the pain, or in some instances with Epilepsy and Crohn’s disease, you can actually get better. There’s no reason to prevent somebody from getting that,” said Grifoni.