United for Care — the political advocacy group driving a campaign to see medical cannabis legalized in Florida in 2016 — has announced the success of their latest signature-gathering campaign, The Daily Chronic reports. The signature drive ended with an astonishing 900,000 signatures collected in favor of statewide medical marijuana reform. United for Care is the organization behind Florida’s 2014 attempt to legalize medicinal cannabis.
According to a press release published yesterday on the organization’s website, “The Florida Supreme Court has put it’s stamp of approval on the 2016 version of the medial marijuana petition, paving the way towards it’s imminent placement on the ballot.”
There have been minor changes made to United for Care’s legalization model, but with 57% of the vote secured in 2014, it is clear the Florida voters are growing more amenable to the notion of compassionate cannabis reform. The proposed reform would take place as a constitutional amendment, and would legalize cannabis use in the treatment of cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and “other conditions for which a physician believes that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for a patient.”
Florida requires constitutional amendments to be approved by at least 60% of the voters before becoming law. United for Care expects to have no problem passing that threshold this year, despite complaints from patients about the amendment not including options for homegrown cannabis.
Photo Credit: Brad Clinesmith