FLORIDA LAWMAKER'S TILTING AT WINDMILLS WITH MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

The medical marijuana debate is coming to Florida.

At least, that's the hope of one state legislator. Florida Rep. Jeff
Clemens, D-Lake Worth, is introducing a bill that would put
legalizing marijuana for medical purposes up for a statewide vote.

Clemens told a local radio station that he considers himself a full
"de-criminalization advocate" who would one day like to see marijuana
legalized for all Floridians, but that is not his intention with this
first effort. The bill, which does not yet have a number, would
merely address medical marijuana.

"If people vote that they want to see medical marijuana in Florida,
what would happen is the Legislature would write the laws that would
govern it," Clemens told Buzz 103.1 in an on-air interview broadcast
in South Florida on Monday. "That creates an industry, and it creates
regulation for that industry, and frankly, some tax dollars for the state."

I wish the representative luck, but I'm not holding out much hope
he'll get traction. Florida isn't California.

Readers of this column know how I stand on the question of legalizing
marijuana for recreational use. In a Jan. 14 column, and again in the
attached video, I call such a prospect "crazy dangerous" and
"irresponsible public policy." And I feel strongly about both
statements - despite the scorn and occasional death threats I've
gotten from some disturbed potheads who take extreme offense at
anyone who dares share such an opinion.

But I do support medical marijuana in tightly controlled, heavily
regulated environments. Unlike those who smoke weed just to get high,
potentially on their way to harder drugs, medical patients actually
have good reason to light up: Documented scientific studies have
proven marijuana's benefits in relieving pain and nausea for cancer,
multiple sclerosis and other diseases.

That's not an inconsistent position. I don't ever want to see a day
when prescription-only narcotics are allowed to be sold over the
counter, or in the local gas station, but they have obvious benefits
for patients in need, with a prescription and under the care and
supervision of a doctor. I am persuaded by the argument that the same
should be true for medical marijuana - if regulation and controls are
effective.

That's a big if, especially in Florida. Already, the Sunshine State
is finding it next to impossible to keep oxycodone out of the hands
of addicts. That drug is legal only when prescribed by a doctor, and
yet addicts are overdosing at rates that surpass any other state in America.

Clemens would like to see Florida follow in the footsteps of
California, which pioneered the first medical marijuana law in the
late 1990s, and 12 other states.

But even this former mayor of quirky and eclectic Lake Worth,
experiencing his first days of his rookie session in the state
Legislature, isn't kidding himself. Florida is a state led by large
majorities of socially conservative Republicans, and Clemens told his
Buzz 103.1 radio hosts that he's not even sure the bill will get a
hearing this session.

Medical marijuana, though, is important enough of an issue to him,
with some potentially meaningful taxing benefits, that the new
legislator wanted to take the opportunity "to start a conversation."
I'm all for that, and I applaud his tilting at this particular windmill.

Knowing he will get some flack for even broaching the prospect of
legalizing medical marijuana, Clemens said he was hoping any debate
on the subject would be expressed as "more of a show of compassion
than a show of anger."

Good luck with that, too. I don't know when the marijuana debate
started taking on the vicious overtones usually reserved for
arguments over abortion and animal rights, but for some reason, the
mere mention of the subject sends many on both sides of the
legalization argument into toxic, foul-mouthed tirades.

And I have sneaking suspicion that my old fans from past marijuana
columns will prove the accuracy of that statement yet again in the
comments below.