For the first time, medicinal marjuana bills filed in both House and Senate

Jeannie Herer
By
Staff writer
A state budget crunch that won’t quit, legislative reapportionment and gaming are expected to crowd the legislative season that starts in Tallahassee Tuesday — but for some, nothing has quite the same buzz as an effort to allow the medical use of marijuana.

It’s the second year in a row that legislation has been filed to start Florida on the path that 16 other states and the District of Columbia have taken, starting with California in 1996. And this year represents the first time that a bill allowing marijuana as a medicinal has been filed in both the House and the Senate.
For some from the home of “Gainesville Green” — a celebrated strain of marijuana — and the recently revived Hemp Fest — including those who have served jail time for being a “Doobie Tosser” — this legislation can’t come quickly enough.
House Joint Resolution 353 and Senate Joint Resolution 1028 propose that the question of allowing marijuana for medical use should appear on the 2012 ballot as a statewide referendum. If approved by at least 60 percent of the voters, the state constitution would be amended.
 
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