Marijuana

The bill’s traction is adding legitimacy to a movement in Florida.

Prosecutors now drop any low-level marijuana cases, but Miami-area cops keep arresting people anyway.

Sales of recreational marijuana and accompanying increases in tourism would account for about $190 million in tax revenue after the official industry was up and running, the report says. The analysts say the overall economic effect would be “slightly positive” — more or less a ringing endorsement from a state that was once ground zero for the war on weed.

In Florida, companies such as Philip Morris and Bacardi aren’t required to cultivate and process raw plant material and then package, distribute, and sell their cigarettes and rum. But for some reason, state law requires medical marijuana producers to operate exactly that way.

Some of Florida’s estimated 300,000 medical marijuana users have learned the hard way that although it’s legal to use cannabis to relieve certain conditions, they can still face consequences at work and school.

The road to recreational marijuana in Florida is long and full of obstacles, but the legalization movement continues to gain momentum. Today the advocacy group Make It Legal Florida announced that its petition to put legal weed on the ballot in 2020 has gathered enough signatures to merit a Florida Supreme Court review.

The tide is changing across the nation and now in the Sunshine State: Almost two-thirds of Florida voters say they support legalizing recreational marijuana for adult use. Three major ballot initiatives are gathering signatures in an attempt to put legalization on the ballot in the 2020 election.

Future newlyweds who prefer weed over booze can now have a THC-friendly officiant at their weddings in Miami. Rev. Bruce Scher has dubbed himself the “Cannabis Minister.”

After four days of vaping a mango-flavored CBD product from a South Florida company, Erin Gilbert developed shortness of breath, vomiting, diarrhea, and fever, she says, and was rushed to a hospital in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

CBD might be the buzziest ingredient of 2019. Just about everyone is looking to cash in, from ice-cream parlors to yoga studios to multilevel marketing operations. But one Florida company apparently took the CBD trend a bit too far.

Lawmakers are scrambling to keep pace with the ever-changing landscape of the cannabis and hemp industries in Florida. As proponents of legalization lay the groundwork for a 2020 vote on adult use — more commonly known as recreational marijuana — officials are still trying to get a handle on the cannabis and hemp industries.

With three different petition drives hoping to bring recreational marijuana to Florida, legalization will most likely be on the 2020 ballot. To date, the frontrunning Make It Legal Florida initiative, backed by multistate cannabis companies that stand to gain billions, claims to have garnered more than 100,000 petition signatures since it began last month.

After decades of futile “Just Say No” policies, Florida school districts are implementing medical marijuana guidelines for students who have medical marijuana cards and need to medicate during school hours.

Coral Gables city commissioners have approved moratoriums on vape shops and stores that primarily sell CBD products.

For the past three and a half months, marijuana has essentially been decriminalized in Miami. After Florida legalized hemp July 1, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office announced it would no longer prosecute most minor marijuana charges because the substance is virtually indistinguishable from hemp.

The number of jobs related to hemp, cannabis, and marijuana could increase more than sevenfold in Florida by 2025 — that is, if recreational marijuana gains approval in the November 2020 election.

As momentum behind legalizing recreational marijuana in Florida continues to grow, Republicans are tapping new wells for cold water to throw on the movement. Tuesday, Harvard Medical School professor Bertha Madras gave an hourlong presentation about the dangers of marijuana in front of the state House Health and Human Services Committee.

Experts say a recent class-action lawsuit filed in Florida signals a growing need for more stringent regulation and enforcement of the hemp and CBD industries in the state. The suit alleges the Fort Lauderdale company Diamond CBD and the Denver-based First Capital Venture Co. misrepresented the amount of CBD in their products.

As vaping-related illnesses increase, experts at Rutgers University warn that these problems are likelier to affect marginalized communities.

For years, cannabis companies running legal operations have been forced to bank like thieves.

Now that a ton of corporate money is being poured into Florida’s petition-gathering process, it’s almost guaranteed the legalization of recreational marijuana will be on the 2020 ballot, where it would need 60 percent approval to become state law.

The fact that the federal government has been lying to the people of the United States for decades about the dangers of cannabis is especially jarring to shellshocked veterans of war who were under the impression they were fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.