The Florida Medical Association came out against Amendment 2 (Florida’s upcoming medical marijuana ballot measure).
Following the standard talking points of the opposition, physician Alan Pillersdorf, association president, said in a statement. “We believe the unintended consequences of Amendment 2 are serious and numerous enough for us to believe they constitute a public health risk for Floridians.”
Unintended consequences? Besides being a BS phrase meant to scare people, this phrase really has no bearing on anything. We have seen successful rollouts of medical marijuana in dozens of states. Washington state and Colorado have legalized recreational marijuana. What have the unintended consequences been?
- Crime rates drop (here is another example on that one)
- Fatal Auto Accidents drop
- State coffers expand
The unintended consequences of medical, or even recreational marijuana legalization are all positive.
I am sure someone down there is thinking “what about the children?”. So I have to tell you this: I grew up in Florida. I graduated High School in Florida. Marijuana is far easier for a teenager in Florida to get then alcohol is. Maybe if we started requiring the people selling it to ID people it would be better for the children… but that would require legalization and regulation…
But seriously Florida folk. There is a lot of marijuana in your state. It is currently being grown, harvested, prepped, transported, bought and sold in an underground economy that does not help the state one bit, nor does it required that sellers check ID’s and only sell to adults. Any effort to take any part of the marijuana market away from the underground market and it put it into the legitimate, regulated, taxed market is a positive move.
In the statement criticizing Amendment 2 and medical marijuana, The Florida Medical Association urged its membership not to prescribe medical marijuana if the amendment passes until products are approved by the FDA. (Despite the fact that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and therefore the FDA will likely not be approving anything until that changes). This move comes as no surprise from the type of people who accept kickbacks from big pharma. Of course they don’t want something that can be grown in your backyard to replace the expensive pharmaceuticals. Not after Florida Doctors received over $200 million in payments from Pharmaceutical companies (2nd only in the US to payments made to California Doctors)
