Editorial: Positive step forward on medical marijuana

The effort to legalize medical marijuana in Florida has found its rightful home in the Florida Legislature. Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, has introduced promising legislation that would make the drug legal for patients with specific medical conditions who have not found pain relief through traditional medicine. Brandes and the bill's early supporters, which include Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, clearly understand the will of the voters, who voted overwhelmingly to legalize medical marijuana in November but fell just shy of the 60 percent level needed to pass a constitutional amendment. As the bill makes it way through committees, lawmakers can adjust it so that the legislation best serves Floridians in pain and protects the public from abuse.

The bill, called the Florida Medical Marijuana Act (SB 528), addresses many of the issues that concerned opponents of the constitutional amendment. It tightens the definition for qualifying patients, allowing physicians to recommend the drug only to patients with specific medical conditions including cancer, HIV, AIDS, epilepsy, ALS, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease and Parkinson's disease. The act also allows treatment of named chronic conditions such as wasting syndrome, severe muscle spasms, nausea, pain and seizures. Satisfying another concern about the proposed amendment, the measure provides for licensed caregivers who are at least 21 years old and who pass a criminal background check to pick up and administer the drugs to qualifying patients.

As in Amendment 2, the Brandes bill requires the Department of Health to regulate the industry and maintain a database of registered patients, caregivers and physicians. The bill also requires doctors to have a three-month treatment relationship with a patient before recommending medical marijuana, and it provides for a 30-day supply of the drug to be issued at one time. Abuse by doctors, patients or caregivers could result in a misdemeanor charge.

More than 57 percent of Florida voters supported the failed effort to legalize medical marijuana through a constitutional amendment. Brandes' bill is a good-faith effort to provide relief to suffering Floridians. Now other legislators should help craft a solution that will work for Floridians. Expanding the bill's local control provision is a good place to start. The bill now requires county commissions to approve the number and location of medical marijuana retail facilities in their jurisdictions before state licenses are issued. The measure also should require input from city governments, and no local governments should be able to ban any facilities from opening. Legislators also should examine a clause in the bill that indicates that a doctor can recommend medical marijuana for a patient only after exhausting all other "reasonable alternative medical options." Decisions about treatment are best handled between a patient and a doctor, not meted out by state law.

It is encouraging that some of the most vocal opponents of last year's push to legalize medical marijuana are early supporters of this legislative answer. Gualtieri says he favors the bill, and the Florida Sheriff's Association seems poised to get on board. Legislators cannot afford to be tone deaf and should pass a measure this session that positions the industry to get up and running quickly. The alternative, where access to medical marijuana remains blocked and the drug's supporters make another run at amending the state Constitution, would not produce the best results.