Activists hoping to get recreational pot on the 2020 ballot are undeterred by passage of Florida House Bill 5, the latest Republican attempt to subvert the people’s will. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law on June 7 in what the South Florida Sun Sentinel described as an “arrogant…

Having failed at a previous suicide attempt, South Florida Army veteran J.C. Ortiz was determined to succeed the second time. It was 2009 and he had just returned from his second tour of Iraq, where he had experienced a grueling 15 months of continual combat. Four years earlier, after another 18 months of war, he’d begun suffering from PTSD. He would become addicted to opioids.

As part of the green wave that has swept America, 16 states — from ultra-liberal California to ultra-conservative Oklahoma — have allowed citizens to grow their own marijuana. But ultra-belligerent Florida has spent millions of dollars denying people the right to grow cannabis for personal consumption.

The cannabis compound Cannabidiol (CBD) is beneficial for treating everything from addiction to arthritis, but cops are incarcerating people over it in the name of public safety. Some recent examples: Last month, a 69-year-old grandmother Hester Jordan Burkhalter was arrested in Disney World after  guards found a vial of CBD…

Fifteen-year-old Rick Naya was camping with a friend in South Florida’s J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area when he spotted a cargo plane flying above, dumping dozens of marijuana bales into the woods below. It was like a gift from the ganja gods. The year was 1975, and Florida was becoming…

A last-minute effort by Florida Republican legislators to restrict citizen petition drives is only a governor’s signature away from becoming law. Governor Ron DeSantis, who has previously stated he sides with the will of the people, has made no indication of whether he will sign the bill. If he does,…

On June 11, Tony Basaro is scheduled to attend an immigration hearing that will determine his fate.

Despite ongoing efforts by the Florida Legislature to thwart the will of the people, Florida likely has the fastest-growing medical marijuana program in the nation. More than 213,000 people are enrolled, with 10,000-plus signing up every month. New York, by comparison, implemented its medical marijuana program 18 months…

Never having been a pot smoker, Martha Bueno was surprised when the marijuana she began vaping from a local dispensary in 2017 helped allay the need to remove her thyroid. The 40-year-old vice chair of the Libertarian Party of Miami-Dade had multiple polyps and cysts growing on both lobes of her…

Less than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill permitting the smoking of medical marijuana, Florida House Republicans are rallying for more restrictions nobody asked them to write. Leading the latest Prohibition-style drive is Fort Myers Beach Rep. Ray Rodrigues, who is sponsoring a bill to cap smokable marijuana at 10 percent THC.