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Top Republican in Florida Senate Admits He Bought Pot for a Dying Friend Once

By William Breathes on February 18, 2014 News

Don Gaetz.

While top Republicans like Gov. Rick Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi are opposed to legalizing medical marijuana in Florida, the issue isn’t necessarily a left vs. right issue.
Don Gaetz, the Republican President of the Florida Senate, has made the blunt admission that he once bought pot to ease the pain of a dying friend.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, back in 1984 Gaetz’s friend E. Ronal Mudd, a Methodist chaplain, was suffering from cancer with sever side effects of nausea. He read that marijuana might be able to help his symptoms. So Mudd asked Gaetz to get him some pot, and, well, he did. Miami New Times has the full story.

Competing weed initiatives in FL have local Democrats at war with themselves

By Jack Daniel on February 14, 2014 Follow that story, Legislation, Medical

“Joe is a freshman legislator in a Republican-controlled house, so he’s got zero juice to get anything done.” So says John Morgan, an Orlando-based attorney and cannabis reform advocate.
The “Joe” he is referring to is Florida state congressman Joe Saunders (D- Orlando), who recently filed House Bill 859, which if passed, would skip right past the voters in Florida, making legal medical marijuana the law of the land.

Morgan, who has personally raised $4,000,000 in an effort to get a similar piece of legislation before Florida voters this November, calls Saunders’ plan nothing more than a publicity stunt.

Florida medical marijuana advocate spends $2.8 million for final signature push

By William Breathes on January 15, 2014 Follow that story, Medical, News

John Morgan.

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.

Florida Supreme Court to decide fate of medical marijuana proposal today

By William Breathes on December 6, 2013 Follow that story, News

Update: Dec. 6, 8:20 a.m. – Yesterday the Florida Supreme Court began hearing arguments for and against a proposed medical marijuana ballot initiative. Opponents say the language is too vague and would create a free for all for people seeking to use cannabis legally but don’t have a valid medical condition.
The Justices all seemed to take that argument the most seriously, with several agreeing at least in discussion that the measure is written too broadly.

Florida attorney donates $250,000 to 2014 medical marijuana legalization in Sunshine State

By William Breathes on October 14, 2013 Legislation, Medical, News

John Morgan.

Orlando attorney John Morgan has become the face of a growing grassroots medical marijuana ballot initiative campaign in Florida.
Morgan, who has recently taken to radio airwaves to get his message across, has also put his money where his mouth is by donating more than a quarter-million dollars to the People United for Medical Marijuana campaign.

Florida medical marijuana proposal gets 100,000 signatures, prompts state supreme court review

By William Breathes on August 19, 2013 Medical, News

Florida is one step closer to getting a statewide public vote on legalizing medical marijuana. With powerful backers like Orlando super-lawyer John Morgan and funding from big Democrats around the state, the push by People United for Medical Marijuana is blazing ahead.
The group needed to collect 68,314 signatures to trigger a Florida Supreme Court review of the initiative’s language. And so far, the groups says they’ve collected at least 100,000. New Times Broward-Palm Beach has the full story.

Proposed Florida medical marijuana program doesn’t allow home grows

By William Breathes on July 18, 2013 Legislation, Medical, News

Lots of things grow well in the Florida sunshine: oranges, the Everglades and cannabis all come to mind. Unfortunately, a proposed medical marijuana ballot measure currently collecting signatures doesn’t allow home growing whatsoever.
Instead, medicine would be produced and sold solely through state-licensed retail stores.

8th Grader Suspended For Pot Prank With Bag Of Oregano

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 21, 2012 News

FARK.com

An eighth-grade student in North Carolina was suspended from school after pulling a prank on a classmate with a bag of oregano following a lecture on the dangers of marijuana. A civil liberties group has lined up in his corner, but officials at the school aren’t backing down.

The boy was thrown out of school for 55 days for the incident at Cuthbertson Middle School in Waxhaw, N.C., reports My Fox Orlando. Hidebound school officials point at the district’s policy manual, which says students can get a 10-day suspension for “possessing illegal or counterfeit drugs” and “misuse of chemical/material (organic or otherwise) that causes or is purported to cause a hallucinogenic/mind altering effect.”

‘Blunt’ Joke At Burger King Drive-Thru Leads To Marijuana Bust

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Culture, News

Volusia County Sheriff’s Office

Shawn Porter’s marijuana joke landed him in jail with felony pot charges

Hey, stoner, don’t make pot jokes in the drive-through line. A Florida man tried to add some high humor to his drive-through order at Burger King, but when he asked for “a blunt and some herbs,” the store called the cops and the man ended up in jail on felony marijuana charges.

Shawn Porter, 32, of Deltona, is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach with bail set at $1,000, reports Gary Taylor at the Orlando Sentinel.

It all started innocently enough, with a late-night munchie run to the Burger King in Deltona, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Gary Davidson.

Porter and another man pulled into to the drive-through lane in a white Saturn just before 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. When it came time to order, one of them yelled out that he wanted “a blunt and some herbs,” Davidson said.

Federal Judge Blocks Florida’s New Welfare Drug Testing Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 News

WTXL

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Florida’s new law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving benefits. U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven said it may violate the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Judge Scriven ruled in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father of a four-year-old who sought welfare benefits while finishing his college education, but refused to take the drug test, reports the Associated Press.

According to the judge, there is a “substantial likelihood” that plaintiff Luis W. Lebron will succeed in his challenge to the law based on the Fourth Amendment, which is supposed to protect Americans from being unfairly searched.

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