By Steve Elliott of Toke of the Town
If you live in Florida and you want to vote on whether to legalize medical marijuana on the 2012 ballot, you’d better hope that either House Joint Resolution 353 makes it through the Legislature, or that 646,889 more Floridians sign the People United for Medical Marijuana petition.
PUFMM has gotten 29,922 of the 676,811 valid signatures needed by February 1 to qualify for the ballot, which means they’re only 4.4 percent of the way there, reports Matthew Hendley at Broward Palm Beach New Times.
As of PUFMM’s last tally on October 29, 7,646 of the 29,922 signatures — just over 25 percent — come from Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade counties, all known for being more liberal than Florida as a whole.
The language in the PUFMM petition offers less regulation than HJR 353, the bill currently being sponsored by Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) in the Legislature (which, at the moment, is in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee).
The citizen petition, in addition to, like HJR 353, listing specific conditions for which marijuana could be authorized, also adds “other diseases and conditions when recommended by a physician.”
The PUFMM petition calls for the Legislature to enact some sort of registration for patients, as well as regulations for the distribution and sale of medical marijuana, and allows the Legislature to make laws regarding the use of motor vehicles, boats and planes while under the influence of cannabis.
You can read PUFFM’s petition by clicking here [PDF].
Article From Toke of the Town and republished with special permission.
