Anti-Amendment 2 commercial stirs debate

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The validity of a

commercial

against Florida’s medical marijuana amendment has sparked a heated debate among experts throughout the state.

The Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative, Amendment 2 would legalize medicinal marijuana and guarantee the following:

• Medical marijuana use by a qualifying patient or personal caregiver would be legal
• A licensed physician would be able to legally issue medicinal marijuana to a person with “debilitating
  medical condition”
• Registered medical marijuana treatment centers would not be subject to criminal or civil liability

Fort Myers family law attorney Tony Latino has been supporting the legalization of medical marijuana for 20 years.

“If someone can eat a regulated dose and have that stop their tremors from Parkinson’s or ALS, I think that’s great,” Latino said.

However, Ave Maria law professor Mark Bonner believes the commercial is true.

“For example, the commercial says no prescriptions for marijuana. That’s accurate,” said Professor Mark Bonner.

Bonner also said those regulations could take months or years to get into place and described that time frame as the ‘wild west’ for pot shops.

“It’s going to make it doubly hard for the Department of Health to regulate by having this as a constitutional amendment to deal with,” Bonner said.

The Department of Health has had regulatory control of the state’s 2014 medical cannabis legislation and since that law passed only six centers have been licensed throughout the state.

To view the full amendment, click this link: http://dos.elections.myflorida.com/initiatives/fulltext/pdf/50438-3.pdf