Florida Gov. Rick Scott said yesterday that he would vote against a medical marijuana ballot initiative that could come before voters this fall, but that’s about all he can do. A ballot initiative approved by voters can’t be vetoed by Scott’s office.
Scott, the former head of Columbia/HCA hospitals, says he has empathy for sick Floridians, but that he can’t bring himself to approve of a freely available plant to help them. Instead, he conflated the issue and associated medical cannabis with alcohol and other illegal drug use.

The push to legalize medical marijuana in Florida is one step closer today, as the People United for Medical Marijuana (United for Care) are claiming that they have officially collected 1.1 million petitions.
Last week, New Times reported that the group thought it had reached the 1.1 million mark. An email sent out Wednesday night by the United for Care campaign director, Ben Pollara, confirmed — that the group has collected “over 1.1 million in all.” Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the details.

Orlando-based attorney and pro-medical marijuana advocate John Morgan has put $2.8 million into the effort to get the legalization of medical marijuana on the Florida ballot come November.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Morgan has given the folks at United for Care a $909,000 loan to advance the effort.
Morgan and United for Care have until February 1 to turn in 700,000 signatures to force a vote in November, and the lawyer is pushing hard and opening up his wallet as the deadline draws nearer. The Broward-Palm Beach New Times has more.

Supporters of an embattled ballot measure to create a constitutional amendment in Florida allowing for medical cannabis say they have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot this November.
Ben Pollara, who is heading up the People for United Medical Marijuana campaign, says that the campaign will hit one million signatures sometime next week – hundreds of thousands more than the 683,000 valid signatures required by state law.