High Court Hears Medical-Marijuana Case

[trix]

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.

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[trix]

The opponents say that, by combining a potentially desirable outcome with a potentially undesirable one, the amendment is impermissibly “logrolling” the issues together.

 

Also, opponents say, the proposal logrolls, misleads voters or violates constitutional protections or issues by:

 

• Giving physicians, patients and some caregivers immunity from criminal and civil actions in some cases. People United says it’s needed to prevent harassment.

 

• Allowing all types of physicians, including podiatrists and chiropractors, to recommend marijuana. People United says the Legislature can limit the scope to just medical doctors.

 

• Granting legal standing for any citizen to sue the government if it doesn’t comply with the amendment. People United says that’s not a single-subject violation and it doesn’t substantially affect the government’s operations.

 

• Directing the Department of Health to enforce medical-marijuana rules, which should be the purview of the Legislature. People United says the law would be a “minimal addition” to the department’s current duties.

 

• Creating a new public-records exemption for patients’ identities. People United says this, too, is a minimal issue and is within the amendment’s scope.

 

• Misleading people into believing the amendment would make medical marijuana illegal under federal law. People United says the court has to assume voters aren’t that ignorant.

[Chauncy Gardner]

The "elites" (10% of the population) want to prevent the rest of us from determining the course of our lives. They have been successful at keeping control through a legislature that they have bought and paid for. Now comes the ballot initiative, supported by a majority of the electorate, that will pass unhindered by anything the elites can throw up. Sensing this, the elites now resort to the courts to stop the march of freedom. Having also bought and paid for the courts, they are counting on them to throw up another roadblock regardless of how blatantly anti-democratic this will appear to the masses.

 

They may be going a step too far this time?