Governor DeSantis announced this week that his administration plans to address the issue of medical marijuana in Florida by first pushing the Florida legislature to pass legislation to fix current anti-marijuana laws.
The Governor noted, “When over 70 percent of Florida voters vote in favor of medical use of marijuana for people with really serious, debilitating conditions that is about as big a majority as you can get in this day and age. And it’s my judgment that what the Florida Legislature has done to implement the people’s will has not done it in accordance with what the amendment envisioned.”
DeSantis also added that “Whether they have to smoke it or not who am I to judge that? I want people to be able to have their suffering relieved and so I don’t think this law is up to snuff.”
In response to the major announcement, Congressman Matt Gaetz, who introduced a proposal this week to expand medical marijuana research, praised the Governor for taking this approach on an issue that Gaetz has long been vocal about.
Speaking on the Governor’s comments, Gaetz stated that “As the author of Florida’s first medical cannabis laws, I am glad to see that Governor DeSantis is committed to executing the will of the people on medical marijuana. His announcement today shows that the Florida legislature must be equally committed. The protracted legal battles over legal ‘forms’ of cannabis have infringed on Floridians’ constitutional rights, while denying patients across the state the treatment methods their physicians recommend. I am glad that Governor DeSantis is giving the Florida legislature an opportunity to act, and I am hopeful that they will work quickly to clarify medical cannabis laws in the Sunshine State.”
In the press conference held in Winter Park, Florida, Governor DeSantis assured,“If they’re not able to do it then I will try to bring this to a conclusion.”
Furthermore, Governor DeSantis asserted, “we’ve got a lot of fish to fry in Florida and the last thing I want to be doing is to be cleaning up something that should have been done two years ago. This should have been implemented and we should have moved on.”
