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On this episode of Let’s be Blunt, Montel speaks with Moriah Barnhart. Moriah founded CannaMoms in 2013 after her daughter Dahlia was diagnosed with aggressive brain cancer and she discovered that cannabis provided much needed relief in her daughters care. She is a strong proponent of taking rights to one’s body and health and putting it back into the hands and homes of the patients and their caregivers, and she fights diligently alongside those with the same mission and message for legislative changes on a federal and state level. In 2015, Moriah helped launch Women Grow Tampa Bay, serving as founding chairwoman of the organization aimed at connecting, educating, and empowering women in all segments of the cannabis industry. She also organized large-scale advocacy efforts in support of Amendment 2, the successful 2016 ballot measure that established Florida's medical cannabis program. Moriah currently sits on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Hemp Advisory Committee and Consumer Education Subcommittee. Moriah is a founding board member of WISE Florida, The Women's Initiative for a Safe and Equitable Florida, launched by a diverse group of supporters who recognize the harms caused by cannabis prohibition and share a commitment to advancing sensible cannabis policy reform in Florida.

A great article on the history of marijuana in Florida, showing how prohibition has failed.

I can only imagine how difficult it is as a parent to have a child within the autism spectrum. I am friends with parents of autistic children and have met many others. These parents would move mountains for their children. They have taken every step possible to try to help alleviate their child's pain and suffering. They have tried every treatment that their doctors have suggested. Every single prescription the physicians can think of, even off-label uses of other prescriptions that have never been studied on children. Some of these prescriptions have serious side effects. All parents want to do is to be able to try medical marijuana for their kids. After all, marijuana is non toxic and there are no known deaths from it. Many parents whose autistic children have other qualifying conditions are able to get medical marijuana for their children, and report that medical marijuana works wonders for aggressive behavior, self-injurious behavior and chronic irritability. Also reported is that the child is able to communicate better after medical marijuana treatment because of not being constantly distracted by every triggering event that sends them into a tizzy. With the help of expert physician Dr Christian Bogner and researcher Joe Stone and The Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, a petition to add Autism to the Michigan Medical Marihuana Program was submitted in 2015. Although it was rejected twice, we are submitting it again. Other states have added Autism to their medical marijuana programs and we feel that this medicine is obviously less toxic than all other prescriptions that are currently prescribed to children. Simply as a choice that a parent and child can try medical marijuana to see if it helps them. https://www.dea.gov/druginfo/drug_data_sheets/Marijuana.pdf Overdose effects: No death from overdose of marijuana has been reported. https://www.kshb.com/news/health/autism-and-medical-marijuana- Medical marijuana used to treat autism-related disorders Michael Williams 9:56 PM, Feb 5, 2018 2:03 PM, Feb 6, 2018 PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Abigail Dar’s son, Yuval, is 24-years-old, and she says he is severely autistic. Mollie Ryckman Barrett’s youngest daughter, Sumer, is 13-years-old and has Asperger Syndrome. This is the story of two moms looking for answers to help their children. "Medication helps, at times. Sumer, who is doing well in seventh grade, takes two of them," Barrett said. “One helps her focus with her brain and one relaxes her brain a little bit.” Always, though, there is the nagging worry. “How safe really is the medication we are giving our children today?” asked Barrett. Dar gave her autistic son higher and higher doses of pharmaceutical prescription medications for years in a bid to control his anxiety and aggressiveness. Dar complained, “They just give medication hoping it will give an answer, which it doesn’t, and I get my kid crazier and crazier.” Amid that frustration, Dar had an alternative within reach. “Israel is much more liberal regarding medical cannabis,” Dar said. Dar spoke from her home outside Tel Aviv, Israel, where she is at the forefront of medical marijuana research. “I gave him (Yuval) his first dose and it was a miracle,” she remembered. The dose she talked about was a strain of medical cannabis she and her son’s psychiatrist settled on after trial and error. Yuval became calmer, less anxious, more attentive. “It’s a game changer,” Abigail said, “it gave us quality of life.” Barrett said she wants the same opportunity for her daughter, but their home in West Palm Beach, Florida is far removed from the access, and attitudes, available in Israel. “We should have a right to decide in our home what is in the best interest of our children, what is the safest alternative option for them,” Barrett said. She said she hopes to someday use cannabis derived oils for Sumer, but her child’s doctor does not agree with the idea. “He just says,” Barrett recalled, “that he doesn’t feel it’s a safe option and she seems OK on her medicine and there really are no side effects.” The American Academy of Pediatrics does not support medical marijuana use for autism-related disorders. One big issue, experts say, is the fact that there are many strains of cannabinoids in marijuana. Dr. Norina Ocampo is a South Florida pediatrician. “The other issue is they think probably all these compounds work synergistically with each other to help, so how do you pick which one will be the right compound,” she said. Dar is working with Israeli doctors, pushing for much more extensive research on that prime question. “Today we have over 300 kids having access to medical cannabis,” she said.

Florida -- Petitions are hitting the streets soon for a new proposed constitutional amendment that would fully legalize marijuana use, possession and cultivation by adults in Florida. A political action committee called Floridians For Freedom, associated with a longtime marijuana advocacy group called the Florida Cannabis Action Network, announced Tuesday it has gotten state approval to begin seeking signatures to get their measure on the November, 2016, ballot. Read More...

Florida -- The stakes are getting higher - politically and financially - in Florida's heated campaign over a November referendum to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana. The latest financial reports by the two main groups fighting the legalization of medical marijuana show a total of more than $7.7 million has been raised to oppose the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot. Read More...

Florida -- Irvin Rosenfeld is Florida's only legal pot smoker. His marijuana provider? The federal government. Since 1982, as part of an experimental drug program, Rosenfeld has received a monthly tin with 300 fat joints – about nine ounces – grown by the feds on a farm at the University of Mississippi.Rosenfeld, 60, a Fort Lauderdale stockbroker with a painful chronic bone tumor disorder, carries a prescription bag with his marijuana cigarettes to work. When I visited him at his office last week, he took a hit off a smokeless vapor pipe, which he sometimes uses when the market gets hectic. But he prefers smoking, which he says is more beneficial in getting the plant's full medicinal effects. Read More...

High Court Hears Medical-Marijuana Case Florida -- Tallahassee’s political establishment has repeatedly blocked legislative votes on medical marijuana and will ask the Florida Supreme Court Thursday to follow suit and keep the issue away from state voters in 2014. Led by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, opponents have raised a host of objections to the proposed state constitutional amendment, which they say could lead to de facto “unfettered” marijuana legalization under the guise of compassionate medicine. “The proposal hides the fact that the Amendment would make Florida one of the most lenient medical-marijuana states,” says Bondi’s initial court brief. Read More...

Florida Couple Unknowingly Smuggles Marijuana From Louisiana A Florida couple unknowingly smuggled 11 pounds of marijuana to Louisiana after a strange series of events led them to be in possession of two locked suitcases that contained the weed. The situation began in July, when a package was delivered to the Louisiana vacation home of the Florida couple. The husband told the housekeeper that the delivery must have been a mistake and had her send it back to UPS. The package was later reshipped to the home by UPS, so the cleaning lady put it inside. During the couple’s recent trip to Louisiana, they decided to open the package and saw that there were two locked suitcases inside. Thinking the bags were lost luggage being returned to someone, they tossed them in their truck and planned to deal with them later, authorities said. It was only once the couple got back to their home in Florida that they cut off the locks and found eleven pounds of marijuana inside. The sheriff’s office was called and officers seized the marijuana. According to Monroe County Sheriff Sgt. Al Ramirez, the marijuana would be destroyed. “This could have been really bad,” Ramirez said in a statement. “These people were traveling all over with this stuff in their truck. If they had been pulled over with it, they could have wound up in jail and their truck may have been seized.” It remains unclear who sent the package to the Louisiana rental home and why they chose that particular address. [Source]

Poll: 82 Percent Favor Medical Marijuana Miami -- If a medical marijuana initiative makes Florida's ballot next year, it could pass with an astonishing 82 percent of the vote, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday that finds voters also favor outright legalization as well. Support for the proposed constitutional amendment is strong among voters of every political stripe, age and income level, with independents lending the most support: 88 percent, the poll shows. The overall 82-16 percent support for medical marijuana is the biggest to date. The previous high-point for Florida approval was about 70 percent in a poll taken earlier this year by the medical-marijuana advocacy group, People United for Medical Marijuana. Read More...

Let Floridians Vote on Medical Pot Florida -- Floridians deserve to know the truth about a proposal to legalize medical marijuana. Here it is: Some people want voters to decide whether pot should be allowed for medical purposes, as prescribed by a doctor. Some don't.Some of the state's most prominent leaders have lined up against a push to place medical marijuana on the 2014 state ballot. They argue the ballot language is deceptive, hiding the scope and permissiveness of the constitutional amendment. They demand it be kept off the ballot. Read More...