Call it the New Marijuana Math: 91,000 Floridians are buying 56 pounds of pot a week under the orders of 1,400 doctors. A year and a half after an amendment to the state constitution legalized medical marijuana, the fledgling industry is finally starting to show some muscle.
“On the one hand, we should have been so much further along with this,” said Karen Goldstein, head of the Florida chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “The amendment was so clear — medical marijuana is legal — but the legislature has muddied the water so much by creating regulations out of thin air.
“On the other hand, if you’re old enough to remember the 1960s, when people could get serious jail time just for having a single joint, it’s kind of amazing to see it handed to a customer across a store counter, and it’s all right out in the open and totally legal.”
When Floridians voted in 2016 to legalize medical use of the drug by an overwhelming 70 percent, gleeful marijuana activist and merchants around the country predicted half a million users would quickly sign up. [Read more at Miami Herald]