Search Results: sembler (7)

Florida’s anti-pot lobby is back. And just like in 2014, it’s spreading straight-up lies about medical marijuana to try to frighten voters. Two years ago, Amendment 2 netted 58 percent of the vote — just short of the 60 percent it needed to pass.

That result likely had something to do with Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s scare campaign to shut the amendment down: Adelson spent more than $5 million to help fund the Drug Free Florida Committee, an anti-pot political action committee and PR campaign.

Now, with another medical marijuana amendment on the ballot this November, the Drug Free Florida Committee is back, but minus Adelson’s largesse so far. This time, Mel Sembler, a former U.S. ambassador and major Mitt Romney donor, is the money man behind the push.

Last week, Drug Free Florida sent New Times one of its first mass mailers — and it is extremely silly. The list, titled “The Top 10 Reasons to Vote NO on Amendment 2,” is chockfull of factual inaccuracies and half-truths straight out of the film Reefer Madness.

We debunked them so you don’t have to do it yourself.


The Florida anti-medical marijuana group called “No on 2” has made a lot of noise about the supposed dangers of legalizing medical weed in Florida. Some of its claims include that weed leads to gay sex and AIDS, weed has more cancer-causing compounds than cigarettes, weed causes more accidents and ER visits, and weed dispensaries will be the new pill mills.
But the latest argument is a bizarre mix of ignorance and bewilderment, soaked in offense. It’s weird enough to be from the The Onion. No on 2’s latest claim: that Amendment 2 will lead to people being able to sell pot cookies, which would be the new date-rape drug. Setting aside the colossal obtuseness of the claim for a minute, it’s important to remember what is behind No on 2. Money. Big, big money.


We’re five months away from the November elections, but already the medical marijuana battle in Florida is ramping up.
Polls show that support for Florida’s Amendment 2 – which would legalize cannabis for certain qualifying medical conditions -has anywhere between 60 and 88 percent support. But backers say that isn’t enough to coast to victory. According to Florida law, constitutional amendments proposed in ballot measures have to pass with 60 percent of the vote.


The state of Florida continues to edge closer to passing some sort of reasonable medical marijuana legislation, but not everyone in the state is happy about it. We have been reporting on the totally predictable knee-jerk opposition from the state sheriff’s association, but as the Florida state legislature is beginning to make moves to legitimize the plant for medical needs, anti-cannabis groups have decided to enter the political arena as well.
Drug Free Florida is an anti-marijuana group whose sole purpose is to oppose, and eventually defeat, the amendment scheduled for a vote this November to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Funded by a 6-digit donation from Mel Sembler (a local land developer, former U.S. Ambassador to Italy and Australia, and long-time money bundler for the Republican Party), the group’s ties to the GOP do not end there.

The Florida Supreme Court will decide whether a medical marijuana citizen initiative can move forward starting December 5.
As we told you earlier this week, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has raised some rather serious objections to the People United for Medical Marijuana initiative that would put the medical cannabis issue to voters in November 2014. So far, supporters have collected more than 100,000 signatures out of the 683,149 needed by Feb. 2014.

Willamette Week

Clear Channel agrees to remove misleading ads, cites transparency issues
Following a grassroots, online protest by volunteers with Women for Measure 80, advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor has agreed to take down a series of shameful, misleading and fear-mongering anti-marijuana billboards around Portland.
 
At a press conference this morning, Women for Measure 80 coordinator Amanda Rain joined Oregonians for Law Reform and other sensible marijuana-policy advocates to condemn the advertisements, denounce the backers’ scare tactics and call for smart marijuana policies that would effectively protect Oregon’s communities and young people.
 

The Straights dot com
Mel Sembler still brags that the abusive Straight Incorporated “drug rehab” was a “remarkable program” 

How Did Sembler Make His Fortune? Abusing Kids

Republican financier Mel Sembler, a major donor to the Romney presidential campaign who formerly chaired the GOP’s finance committee — and that of Mitt himself — made his fortune founding “drug rehab” facilities which are notorious for abusing teenagers.

The 82-year-old Florida shopping mall multi-millionaire switched his political affiliation from the Democrats to the Republicans in 1979 — because of his opposition to marijuana use, reports Lloyd Grove at the The Daily Beast.
“Jimmy Carter made me a Republican,” Sembler said. “And when Carter was dong all this pot smoking and stuff in the White House, I found it terribly distasteful.”