Lawmakers during the annual legislative session that ended last Monday were unable to reach consensus on a measure to implement a voter-approved constitutional amendment that legalized medical marijuana for a broad swath of patients with debilitating illnesses.
But they were in nearly universal agreement on at least one thing: Patients shouldn’t be able to smoke pot products.
Key legislators contacted by the News Service last week about the sale of whole flower products that could be smoked were taken by surprise.
John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer who largely bankrolled what was known as Amendment 2, has pledged to sue the state over the smoking issue, which he says was tacitly approved in the constitutional amendment approved by more than 71 percent of voters in November.
Patients and advocates maintain that the medicinal effects of whole flower consumption outweigh that of processed products, such as oils or other derivatives, including those inhaled by “vaping.”
But the Department of Health apparently isn’t sold on that argument.
