Letters to the Editor: Florida’s marijuana laws and Republicans for Gillum?
Florida’s future will be ‘greener’
This November’s elections offer a great deal of hope for my husband and I — not because of any one candidate or campaign, but because for once, the tide appears to be finally turning on how our elected representatives talk about medical marijuana.
I suffer from Lou Gehrig’s disease. My husband is a veteran with PTSD from the Vietnam War. Advocating for medical marijuana was never something we sought out; circumstances outside our control have put us on the frontlines of this fight out of necessity. It is the only way we have found to treat and alleviate the symptoms of our respective conditions.
Back in 2013, one February day, we received a knock on our door from an unexpected guest. It was a police raid; they were there to confiscate marijuana plants that we were using to treat my terminal illness. We are seniors comfortably living out our retirement, and suddenly we were treated as criminals.
Five years makes a big difference.
Today, medical marijuana is legal, medical marijuana dispensaries are cropping up across the state, as Floridians have become unambiguously supportive of further marijuana reform, and politicians are following suit. Now, even as backwards politicians like Attorney General Jeff Sessions try to maintain the criminal status of cannabis, there is a bipartisan push led by brave legislators like Rep. Charlie Crist and Rep. Matthew Gaetz to move marijuana off of its current classification as a Schedule I drug.
Maybe they are following the polling numbers or maybe they’ve had a change of heart—regardless, we are now witnessing bipartisan efforts from local and state politicians to expand access to care.
Much remains to be done. We have been on the frontlines pushing for smokable medical marijuana, which is currently prohibited by the legislature. Smoking marijuana is largely the reason why I am still alive, despite my diagnosis. Yet our current Governor Rick Scott has done everything in his power to prohibit smokable flower from being a reality in Florida. Voters, apparently, feel differently—a recent poll showed support for smokable medical marijuana at percent.
While it is unclear if the midterm elections will make Florida a more red or blue state, it is clear that our future will be greener.
We hope that our next governor, Cabinet, and Legislature will stand with us — not in our way — as we seek to empower Floridians like myself to have access to the life-saving care they deserve.
Cathy and Bob Jordan
Parrish
Vote for change
This is the most important election of our lifetime. So, why should you vote?
Vote to support the Affordable Care Act. Vote to protect those with preexisting conditions. Vote to expand Medicaid to 800,000 Floridians. Vote to prevent cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
Vote to reestablish regulations to decrease future outbreaks of red tide. Vote to fund the agencies that enforce regulations to protect us from polluters. Vote to mitigate sea level rise. Vote to reverse the trend of rising water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico. Vote to put a stop to the increasing intensity of hurricanes.
Vote to increase funding for teachers and schools. Vote to raise the standing of Florida’s schools in the nation. Vote to attract businesses to our state via the quality of our educational system.
Vote to prevent off shore oil drilling along our coast. Vote to reduce the use of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. Vote to increase the use of alternative fuels such as wind and solar. Vote for the increase in the number of jobs produced by the use of alternative energy sources.
Vote to make our schools and public venues safer. Vote for universal background checks. Vote for the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws. Vote for less influence in our government by the NRA. Vote to get military assault weapons off our streets.
Vote to reestablish the checks and balances in our federal government set up by the Constitution. Vote for the future of our democracy.
James Frazier
Bradenton
No Republican would vote for Gillum
Laughing Out Loud, are you kidding me where do you find your reporters, under a rock in Miami I see.
David Smiley has found a Republican who told him they are going to vote for Gillum just to blow up the party? Really? Fake news alive and well in south Florida.
No Republican would vote for higher taxes, open borders, rights for felons, eliminating ICE, sanctuary states. There may be Republicans who do not like President Trump’s style, but no one can say they don’t like his results. Keep in mind people, there is a very good reason people are moving FROM New York and to Florida.
The Democratic party is in control of all the failing cities and states. Detroit taxed all the corporations out of the city, and they went bankrupt, Chicago is next. The president has proven lower corporate tax equals more jobs and higher economic growth which equals more tax income to replace the lower tax rates. Remember the last president said, get used to under 2 percent growth, that was his new normal.
Like the new man in the office or not, he has been great for business growth which is great for workers, I know someone who hasn’t had a job in 20 years, just collecting disability check, now has par- time warehouse job, adding to her quality of life and to the economy. Why in the world would anyone want to copy Detroit’s path?
Scott B. Scoville
Bradenton
This story was originally published October 31, 2018 at 12:19 PM.