@MarcACaputo
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi told the state's high court that the backers of a proposed constitutional amendment calling for medical marijuana are misleading voters.
The proposed amendment and its ballot summary that voters would say, which needs to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court before being placed on the 2014 ballot, call for the legalization of medical marijuana for "debilitating diseases."
But Bondi, in her office's court filing, said the amendment goes farther than the ballot summary indicates and that the sponsor, People United for Medical Marijuana is "hiding the ball" about the true effect of the proposal.
"If the amendment passed, Florida law would allow mairjuana in limitless situations," Bondi wrote. "Any physician could approve marijuana for seemingly any reason to seemingly any person (of any age) -- including those without any 'debilitating disease.' So long as a physician held the opinion that the drug use 'would likely outweigh t' the risks, Florida would be powerless to stop it."
If the court agrees with Bondi and determines the measure is misleading, the court could strike the proposed amendment down.
Pervading the issue: partisan politics.
People United for Medical Marijuana is backed by Orlando trial lawyer and Democratic fundraiser John Morgan, the boss of former Gov. Charlie Crist, who's planning to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
Republicans suspect PUFMM is a front group to help Charlie and hurt Republicans; PUFMM denies the claims.
Assuming it survives constitutional challenge, the medical marijuana issue won't get on the ballot unless PUFMM gathers 683,149 verified voter signatures by February. The group says it has gathered 200,000 so far, of which more than 110,000 have been verified.
Once it makes the ballot, the issue would need 60 percent voter support to pass. Recent polls suggest there's a good chance the measure would pass today. The liberal-leaning polling firm PPP recently reported the concept garnered 62 percent
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