Florida

[MedicalNeed]

Darryl Rouson thinks because he has personal issues you shouldn't be able to buy "Smoking Devices"

Quote-Sitting in Palm Beach County rehab, Darryl Rouson scribbled in his diary that one day he'd do anything to help people fight the drug addiction that he struggled with. Now a state representative, the St. Petersburg Democrat got his wish. His bill, which will halt the sale of bongs, water pipes and other drug paraphernalia except at stores that sell mostly tobacco products, cleared the House and is headed to Gov. Charlie Crist's desk. "I'm not proud of my journey from addiction to recovery," Rouson said, "but I'm no longer embarrassed by it."



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Rep. Daryl Rouson's anti-drug paraphernalia bill passes House


Rouson's drug paraphernalia bill is passed

Sitting in Palm Beach County rehab, Darryl Rouson scribbled in his diary that one day he'd do anything to help people fight the drug addiction that he struggled with. Now a state representative, the St. Petersburg Democrat got his wish. His bill, which will halt the sale of bongs, water pipes and other drug paraphernalia except at stores that sell mostly tobacco products, cleared the House and is headed to Gov. Charlie Crist's desk. "I'm not proud of my journey from addiction to recovery," Rouson said, "but I'm no longer embarrassed by it."

Possible Crist veto 'a smart move'

Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West, laid out the reasons Gov. Charlie Crist might veto the budget as he leaves the Republican primary to run for the U.S. Senate: "For political reasons and policy reasons, it's a smart move. It keeps him up on television and the media. It keeps the spotlight on him. Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek have to spend millions to get their name out. He gets all the media exposure here." Won't it look too political? Saunders: "There are good reasons to veto the budget. The budget will cost thousands of jobs, hurts nursing homes, hurts the developmentally disabled; it misspends Medicaid money on special member projects instead of on Medicaid. What does he gain by signing it — the friendship of the Republican legislators who hate his guts? They attack him personally and then they're shocked he vetoes their stuff."

Condo bill survives delegation fights

A massive condo relief bill is headed to Gov. Crist's desk after clearing its final hurdle in the House chamber. Its passage came after public infighting within South Florida's legislative delegation, with some members hoping to add more elements to the bill. Among other things, the 100-plus-page bill allows condo owners to opt out of buying insurance for their individual units — though they would still have to pay for building insurance — if the condo association agrees, prevents owners who don't pay their dues from using communal areas, delays a state mandate for condos to upgrade fire sprinkler systems and reduces fees that investors would have to pay when buying units in bulk. Rep. Julio Robaina, R-Miami, continued his push to add on a provision allowing the state to investigate complaints of corrupt condo association managers. The provision was supported by the majority of the House's members, but didn't meet the two-thirds threshold to amend the bill. Bill sponsor Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, successfully held off any changes.

Speaker given motorcycling swag

After a 15-minute slide show of pictures from the session, House members presented Speaker Larry Cretul with a sweet red motorcycle and all of the accompanying gear: jackets for him and his wife, a motorcycle license plate reading "speaker" and a helmet signed by all the House members. Only they didn't give Cretul the bike. It was just a prop to add ambience to the presentation. He's already got a motorcycle: a "Screaming Eagle" that he bought on eBay.

Source: Rep. Daryl Rouson's anti-drug paraphernalia bill passes House - St. Petersburg Times

 

[MedicalNeed]

Independent A.G. Candidate Lewis Calls For Legalizing, Taxing Marijuana

Relatively unknown as a candidate in the race to become Florida's next Attorney General, Fort Lauderdale attorney Jim Lewis has announced he's calling for Florida to take a step beyond simply decriminalizing marijuana for medical use, saying in press release Tuesday that he will seek the legalization of marijuana (in what is widely considered to be the state that ranks number one for highly potent, indoor-grown pot) should he be elected.

After announcing his candidacy last May, Lewis eventually dropped his longtime Republican party affiliation to run as an independent, following a career that included stints in the '80s as assistant state's attorney, special prosecutor for Gov. Bob Graham and assistant statewide prosecutor for the attorney general. He is also no stranger to running for office, having run unsuccessfully for mayor and city commissioner of Fort Lauderdale, Broward County circuit judge, public defender and state representative.

Lewis told The Florida Independent that in addition to the millions of dollars wasted on law enforcement, jailing and corrections associated with marijuana arrests, the state is losing out on what could be a huge financial boom, not to mention thousands of agricultural jobs, were lawmakers to simply legalize the plant for personal use and tax it like they do alcohol and tobacco:

The bottom line is over 25 million Americans use marijuana, and we're wasting all these tax supported prison beds to lock these people up. About 20 percent of people in Florida prisons are there for drug possession alone, and a good number of them for marijuana possession. So I don't think we need to cut in the doctors or anyone else in terms of making it for medical reasons only. I think we tax it like we do alcohol and cigarettes, and use it to put more cops on the street, pay our teachers and balance our budget.

A figure that a lot of people aren't familiar with is that the Mexican drug cartels, their income, which is about $14 billion a year, 61 percent of that comes from marijuana. So if we were to lower the demand for illegal marijuana, then maybe they'd have less violence down there in that country. And for the drug dealers who make money here in this country, it will put a hurting on them. If someones going to make money, why shouldn't it be the state?

He added that studies have shown marijuana isn't physically addictive and there are no documented cases of people dying from marijuana abuse. "I think some of the people using drugs like Oxycontin are using them because marijuana is illegal, and I think we'd be saving some lives," he said.

A report by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission in July found that 5 percent of all deaths in 2009 were attributable to prescription drug use, far outnumbering those caused by illegal substances, and that Oxycodone, the generic version of the Purdue Pharma brand name prescription pain-killer OxyContin, was the cause of 1,185 state deaths in 2009, a 26-percent increase from the year before and a whopping 249-percent increase from 2005.

Lewis acknowledged announcing his position on such a high-profile issue at this stage in the race will be seen by some as politically opportunistic, but argues that he's been shut out of the mainstream media for his lack of party affiliation and the fact that he's not running a campaign on money from special interests, political PACs or 527s. He is in the process of fighting for inclusion in the one scheduled debate between A.G. candidates state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, and Republican Pam Bondi, a former assistant state attorney from Tampa.

"I think people are going to look past that his election cycle," Lewis said. "They are looking for people with creative ideas who are qualified and have the character that they want. If this lets people know I'm willing to think outside the box, and take some bold moves to change things, then I'm all for it.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:floridaindependent.com
Author: Brett Ader
Contact: Contact us « Florida Independent: News. Politics. Media
Copyright: 2010 The Florida Independent
Website:Independent A.G. candidate Lewis calls for legalizing, taxing marijuana « Florida Independent: News. Politics. Media

 

[MedicalNeed]

High Times At AG Candidate's Pro Pot Rally
Jim Lewis makes argument for marijuana legalization outside Broward courthouse


Blaring Bob Marley tunes on a boombox and waving signs that simply read "Legalize Marijuana," about a dozen or so supporters of Independent Florida Attorney General Candidate Jim Lewis and his effort to make weed legal in the Sunshine State descended on the Broward County Courthouse for a pro pot rally Tuesday morning.

The 51-year-old former prosecutor looked somewhat out of place in a shirt and tie standing next to the mostly dredlocked group assembled, including a man dressed head-to-toe as the green sticky icky with a sign reading "It's not just for glaucoma anymore."

But Lewis' message and purpose, the decriminalization of marijuana, fit right in.

"We're trying to get people to realize the statistics and the studies show that marijuana is less injurious to the public health than is alcohol and cigarettes," said Lewis. "These folks are out here for many reasons, but they all want to legalize marijuana and this is a position that I've decided to take in seeking the position of Florida Attorney General."

Lewis, a long shot at best for the AG's office, said the pot issue is just as important as others, especially in Florida.

"I think it's real important. We've talked about immigration, we've talked about the lawsuit for Obama-care, now we're really talking about something that's close to the people's heart and those people, not just the people that use marijuana, but there are people out there that need marijuana because they have MS or cancer or some serious disease," he said.

He added that the money flow that would come with legalization would outweigh any possible harm.

"The money that's being spent on locking people up and incarcerating people for marijuana possession goes into the hundreds of millions in our state," said Lewis. "Over 25 million people in this country regularly use marijuana, that probably means at least over a million people in Florida and it's just crazy to keep filling up our prisons and jails with these people and using these resources when we need these prison beds for dangerous offenders."

Lewis pointed to states like California, where marijuana legalization is helping with the economic downturn.

"Another thing that legal marijuana will bring to us as it's bringing to California, it'll bring jobs and it'll bring tax reliefs," he said. "We can tax marijuana like we do alcohol and cigarettes and it'll be a great economic boon, it'll give our economy the munchies."


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:nbcmiami.com
Author: BRIAN HAMACHER
Contact: NBC Miami
Copyright: 2010 NBC Universal, Inc.
Website:High Times at AG Candidate's Pro Pot Rally | NBC Miami

 

[MedicalNeed]

Re: Florida District 6 Senate Race

PANAMA CITY – With half the candidates talking about it, the District 6 state Senate race seems to have come down to hemp.

Although most of Bay County is split between districts 4 and 2, a finger of District 6 stretches into the eastern half of the county. Voters in the district will have their choice between three candidates – David Abrams, Bill Montford and John Shaw – and a blank line, where write-in candidate Harrison Arencibian hopes residents will enter his name. The incumbent, Democrat Al Lawson, opted for an unsuccessful bid in the U.S. House District 2 race, as he cannot run for re-election due to term limits.

Both Abrams and Shaw strongly support the legalization of hemp, a non-psychoactive cousin to marijuana used in textile and paper production. Supporters also tout the plant as a source of renewable clean energy.

Abrams, an independent, wants to end the drug war "we no longer can afford" and to ease the burden on the state's prison system by legalizing marijuana, as well. He and Shaw, who is running as a Constitutional Republican, advocate cannabis plants as a way to create local jobs and move away from dependency on foreign oil.

"Hemp is an excellent biofuel, and it grows within every single state in the United States," Shaw said. "This is a very sensible first step toward economic viability."

But Montford, a Democratic challenger who lists job creation as his primary platform, said he opposes legalization, "regardless of whether it's a cash crop or not."

"We have other issues that need to be addressed," Montford said. "Far, far more serious issues than talking about legalization of hemp."

Shaw said he wishes "some people would take me a little more seriously," but agreed state government needs an overhaul.

"A lot of things we're doing don't really seem constitutional to me," he said. "If it's the will of the people, that's fine, but, if not, we really need to start focusing on the Constitution."

Arencibian, the write-in candidate, agrees with Shaw that the country ought to get back to its roots. He said he's running as "a Constitututional, fiscal conservative, Tea Party type of candidate."

He'd like to cut property taxes and government oversight.

"I think the state of Florida has a bunch of regulations that need to be eliminated so that businesses would want to start up," Arencibian said. "Right now, the weight of government is too much regulation. About half of that should be eliminated, in my view."


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed:420 MAGAZINE
Source:newsherald.com
Author: SARAH OWEN
Contact: Contact Us - News - The News Herald
Copyright: 2010 Freedom Communications
Website:Decision 2010: The burning issue in state Senate race? Try hemp | senate, decision, state - News - The News Herald