John Morgan doesn't like to lose.
But on Nov. 4, Morgan saw a medical marijuana constitutional initiative – which he had personally and financially backed – fall just short of the 60 percent margin needed for enactment. Although 3.37 million Florida voters agreed with him, it only amounted to 57.62 percent of the vote.
Morgan, though, said he is ready to try again. He will first ask the 2015 Legislature to expand on the modest medical marijuana law passed earlier this year. If that fails, the wealthy, glib-tongued trial lawyer said he will seek to place a slightly revised version of the initiative on the November 2016 ballot.
"I'm not used to losing. But I lost. I lost in a very public way," Morgan said. "But I also believe when you lose, the greatest gift you get is humility. I think with humility you can be much more reasoned, much more measured. And you can take failure and turn it into success."
The defeat may have increased Morgan's humility, but it also diminished his checkbook.
Morgan and his law firm contributed more than $4 million in cash and loans to the People United for Medical Marijuana's $7.4 million campaign, according to the state Division of Elections. Much of that money was spent securing the 683,149 validated voter signatures required to place a constitutional initiative on the statewide ballot.
But the pro-medical marijuana campaign was met by an equally well-financed opposition campaign.
The Drug Free Florida Committee spent $6.3 million – with $5.5 million coming from Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire Las Vegas Sands casino owner who was listed as America's 12th richest person this year by Forbes. Much of Adelson's money went toward financing an advertising campaign that raised doubts about the medical marijuana amendment.
It meant that Florida would have the best-financed marijuana opposition campaign in country, raising a significant hurdle for Morgan and his supporters to overcome.
As a contrast, proponents for a recreational marijuana initiative in Oregon this year had a $9.3 million campaign that resulted in a successful vote. Opponents raised less than $200,000 to block the measure, according to Ballotpedia.
"We were definitely unprepared for the onslaught of advertising and that volume of money coming out against us," said Ben Pollara, a Democratic consultant who managed the 2014 initiative campaign and is expected to guide the 2016 effort.
"We were totally swamped by negative advertising," Pollara said. "They got up on the air much much earlier than us. And their ads were 30 seconds of trying to be as scary as possible about the amendment."
Pollara said the ads were "obviously effective" since initiative failed to gain 60 percent voter approval, but "not terribly effective" since the initiative gained more votes on the ballot than any statewide candidate, including Gov. Rick Scott, who won re-election with a half-million fewer votes.
A revived medical marijuana ballot initiative will likely draw renewed opposition from the Drug Free America Foundation, which was created by Mel Sembler, a prominent Republican and former U. S. ambassador, and his wife Betty.
Calvina Fay, executive director of the foundation, said the group "would oppose any ballot initiative that is seeking to legalize crude marijuana as medicine."
"First of all we don't believe that a ballot initiative that would change the Florida state constitution is a way to go about implementing any kind of medication – and certainly not the way to go about implementing what would be a huge human experiment," Fay said.
Fay said the foundation supports research and clinical trials for products like Epidiolex, a non-intoxicating form of marijuana that is being developed as a medicine by GW Pharmaceuticals.
Fay said the medical marijuana amendment failed this year because voters had too many questions about its potential impact. "They could see there were some huge loopholes that were ripe for major abuses and being in a constitutional amendment it wasn't going to be easy to fix it."
As for Adelson's generosity, Fay said the foundation approached him, asking for his support once they had developed their campaign plan. She also said Adelson had lost a son to substance abuse. "So it's personally relevant to him," she said.
The issue is also personal for Morgan, who has talked about his father coping with his fatal cancer by using marijuana. His brother Tim, who has been a quadriplegic since he was a teenager, also uses marijuana to relieve his pain.
Morgan said he agreed putting the issue in the state constitution complicates its passage. He estimated roughly 10 percent of the opponents would support the issue if it were not a constitutional measure.
Morgan said he will be "tweaking" the initiative's language to take into account some of the criticism and move ahead with a 2016 ballot campaign if state lawmakers do not address the issue.
"We learned a lot," Morgan said about his failed campaign. "The big words we learned about were loophole, immunity and children. Those were the three big words they kept coming at us with – distorted we think – but nonetheless very effective."
Morgan said he found it "interesting" that as a trial lawyer, who has earned a living by suing medical professionals, he was being accused of using the amendment to provide immunity to doctors who dispense marijuana. "I'll make sure they don't get it next time," he said.
While acknowledging plenty of mistakes were made in the 2014 campaign, Morgan and Pollara said they can use those lessons to build a stronger 2016 effort.
For one, they said the electorate in a presidential year – which draws more voters to the polls, including more minority and younger voters – should present a better opportunity for the amendment's passage.
Morgan said one of his key mistakes was trying to appeal to younger voters, including college students.
"I spent so much time trying to motivate young people to come out and vote, which they did to a degree but not like I had hoped for," Morgan said, while noting support from voters 65 and older had "dropped through the floor."
The next time, Morgan said the campaign needs to do a better job of educating older voters "and taking away their scare with advertisements and messaging."
Morgan said another factor was that he had to spend so much time and money early in the 2014 campaign just to secure the nearly 700,000 voter signatures to get the measure on the ballot. It will be easier in 2016 given the campaign has already developed a list of potential supporters and a network of volunteers and contributors.
"I made so many mistakes getting it on the ballot," Morgan said. "I spent millions getting it on the ballot. We won't have to do hardly anything getting it on the ballot this time."
It would also mean the 2016 campaign would have more money in the final months to more effectively counter the advertising from the opponents – if it comes again like it did this year.
"I plan to be more efficient with the money in the beginning and I plan to have the money and the right type of ads to educate the demographic that needs educating the most at the end," Morgan said.
And finally there is the question of Morgan himself. Some critics contend that by being such a visible and outspoken proponent of medical marijuana, his personality overshadows the issue.
Morgan said he will not be mounting a personal bus tour next time and plans to make patients who could find relief from medical marijuana the central focus of the campaign.
"I don't believe that I should be the face of it again," the 58-year-old said. "By the way, I'm too old, gray and fat to go through it again."
News Moderator: Shandar @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: HT Politics | Sarasota Political News Coverage, Local, State, National
Author: Lloyd Dunkelberger
Contact: Sarasota Herald-Tribune 1741 Main Street Sarasota, FL 34236
Website:Morgan retrenches on medical marijuana | December 6, 2014 | Lloyd Dunkelberger | HT Politics
But on Nov. 4, Morgan saw a medical marijuana constitutional initiative – which he had personally and financially backed – fall just short of the 60 percent margin needed for enactment. Although 3.37 million Florida voters agreed with him, it only amounted to 57.62 percent of the vote.
Morgan, though, said he is ready to try again. He will first ask the 2015 Legislature to expand on the modest medical marijuana law passed earlier this year. If that fails, the wealthy, glib-tongued trial lawyer said he will seek to place a slightly revised version of the initiative on the November 2016 ballot.
"I'm not used to losing. But I lost. I lost in a very public way," Morgan said. "But I also believe when you lose, the greatest gift you get is humility. I think with humility you can be much more reasoned, much more measured. And you can take failure and turn it into success."
The defeat may have increased Morgan's humility, but it also diminished his checkbook.
Morgan and his law firm contributed more than $4 million in cash and loans to the People United for Medical Marijuana's $7.4 million campaign, according to the state Division of Elections. Much of that money was spent securing the 683,149 validated voter signatures required to place a constitutional initiative on the statewide ballot.
But the pro-medical marijuana campaign was met by an equally well-financed opposition campaign.
The Drug Free Florida Committee spent $6.3 million – with $5.5 million coming from Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire Las Vegas Sands casino owner who was listed as America's 12th richest person this year by Forbes. Much of Adelson's money went toward financing an advertising campaign that raised doubts about the medical marijuana amendment.
It meant that Florida would have the best-financed marijuana opposition campaign in country, raising a significant hurdle for Morgan and his supporters to overcome.
As a contrast, proponents for a recreational marijuana initiative in Oregon this year had a $9.3 million campaign that resulted in a successful vote. Opponents raised less than $200,000 to block the measure, according to Ballotpedia.
"We were definitely unprepared for the onslaught of advertising and that volume of money coming out against us," said Ben Pollara, a Democratic consultant who managed the 2014 initiative campaign and is expected to guide the 2016 effort.
"We were totally swamped by negative advertising," Pollara said. "They got up on the air much much earlier than us. And their ads were 30 seconds of trying to be as scary as possible about the amendment."
Pollara said the ads were "obviously effective" since initiative failed to gain 60 percent voter approval, but "not terribly effective" since the initiative gained more votes on the ballot than any statewide candidate, including Gov. Rick Scott, who won re-election with a half-million fewer votes.
A revived medical marijuana ballot initiative will likely draw renewed opposition from the Drug Free America Foundation, which was created by Mel Sembler, a prominent Republican and former U. S. ambassador, and his wife Betty.
Calvina Fay, executive director of the foundation, said the group "would oppose any ballot initiative that is seeking to legalize crude marijuana as medicine."
"First of all we don't believe that a ballot initiative that would change the Florida state constitution is a way to go about implementing any kind of medication – and certainly not the way to go about implementing what would be a huge human experiment," Fay said.
Fay said the foundation supports research and clinical trials for products like Epidiolex, a non-intoxicating form of marijuana that is being developed as a medicine by GW Pharmaceuticals.
Fay said the medical marijuana amendment failed this year because voters had too many questions about its potential impact. "They could see there were some huge loopholes that were ripe for major abuses and being in a constitutional amendment it wasn't going to be easy to fix it."
As for Adelson's generosity, Fay said the foundation approached him, asking for his support once they had developed their campaign plan. She also said Adelson had lost a son to substance abuse. "So it's personally relevant to him," she said.
The issue is also personal for Morgan, who has talked about his father coping with his fatal cancer by using marijuana. His brother Tim, who has been a quadriplegic since he was a teenager, also uses marijuana to relieve his pain.
Morgan said he agreed putting the issue in the state constitution complicates its passage. He estimated roughly 10 percent of the opponents would support the issue if it were not a constitutional measure.
Morgan said he will be "tweaking" the initiative's language to take into account some of the criticism and move ahead with a 2016 ballot campaign if state lawmakers do not address the issue.
"We learned a lot," Morgan said about his failed campaign. "The big words we learned about were loophole, immunity and children. Those were the three big words they kept coming at us with – distorted we think – but nonetheless very effective."
Morgan said he found it "interesting" that as a trial lawyer, who has earned a living by suing medical professionals, he was being accused of using the amendment to provide immunity to doctors who dispense marijuana. "I'll make sure they don't get it next time," he said.
While acknowledging plenty of mistakes were made in the 2014 campaign, Morgan and Pollara said they can use those lessons to build a stronger 2016 effort.
For one, they said the electorate in a presidential year – which draws more voters to the polls, including more minority and younger voters – should present a better opportunity for the amendment's passage.
Morgan said one of his key mistakes was trying to appeal to younger voters, including college students.
"I spent so much time trying to motivate young people to come out and vote, which they did to a degree but not like I had hoped for," Morgan said, while noting support from voters 65 and older had "dropped through the floor."
The next time, Morgan said the campaign needs to do a better job of educating older voters "and taking away their scare with advertisements and messaging."
Morgan said another factor was that he had to spend so much time and money early in the 2014 campaign just to secure the nearly 700,000 voter signatures to get the measure on the ballot. It will be easier in 2016 given the campaign has already developed a list of potential supporters and a network of volunteers and contributors.
"I made so many mistakes getting it on the ballot," Morgan said. "I spent millions getting it on the ballot. We won't have to do hardly anything getting it on the ballot this time."
It would also mean the 2016 campaign would have more money in the final months to more effectively counter the advertising from the opponents – if it comes again like it did this year.
"I plan to be more efficient with the money in the beginning and I plan to have the money and the right type of ads to educate the demographic that needs educating the most at the end," Morgan said.
And finally there is the question of Morgan himself. Some critics contend that by being such a visible and outspoken proponent of medical marijuana, his personality overshadows the issue.
Morgan said he will not be mounting a personal bus tour next time and plans to make patients who could find relief from medical marijuana the central focus of the campaign.
"I don't believe that I should be the face of it again," the 58-year-old said. "By the way, I'm too old, gray and fat to go through it again."
News Moderator: Shandar @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: HT Politics | Sarasota Political News Coverage, Local, State, National
Author: Lloyd Dunkelberger
Contact: Sarasota Herald-Tribune 1741 Main Street Sarasota, FL 34236
Website:Morgan retrenches on medical marijuana | December 6, 2014 | Lloyd Dunkelberger | HT Politics
