Amendment 3, the ballot item that will allow adults 21 or older to consume or possess marijuana in limited quantities, is about three basic things: freedom, safety, and protecting vulnerable youth.
Florida has been dubbed “The Freedom State” and yet we continue to arrest adults for simply possessing small amounts of a plant that has been proven to be safer than alcohol and far less dangerous than opioids.
It’s time to change that!
It’s time to join the majority of Americans who live in a state where marijuana in limited quantities is legal and safe. Every year in our so-called “Freedom State”, thousands of adults (16,000 according to one recent study) have their freedom taken away for simply possessing a few ounces of marijuana. And while very few go to a long-term stay in “prison”, many do spend significant time in county jail and end up with a record that that can, and often does, ruin their lives forever. That’s not freedom, that is oppression.
Even Governor Ron DeSantis has repeatedly indicated that he doesn’t think anyone should go to jail for “smoking a joint”. We agree!
But not only should people not go to jail or get a record that follows them for the rest of their lives, they shouldn’t be forced to put those same lives on the line when they buy marijuana from streetcorner drug dealers.
What do I mean?
More and more we find illicit marijuana being laced with dangerous additives like, meth, fentanyl, PCP or Ketamine not to mention outlawed pesticides and herbicides which contain toxins like heavy metals.
Is this common? Yes!
And in fact, during a House of Representatives hearing earlier this year, Dr. Ralph Massullo (R) testified that 90% of marijuana confiscated by Florida law enforcement agencies contained some sort of dangerous additive. Additionally, our state’s Attorney General, Ashley Moody – the top law enforcement official in the state – recently sent out a warning about this very same concern, even noting specifically that marijuana was being laced with the deadliest of opioids: fentanyl.
Legal marijuana will be safe because it will be independently lab-tested for safety and purity so that consumers can and will know that there are no dangerous added chemicals as is already being done under our highly successful medical marijuana program. To that point, while we lose over 200,000 Americans annually to alcohol, there is no record of a single person dying from an overdose of marijuana.
Finally, I hope voters will consider the impact on our youth – the incredibly positive impact.
In state after state (there are 24 in all right now) that went to a legalized marijuana market, we find that teen usage of marijuana went down. Yes, DOWN! Why? Because street corner drug dealers operated in nearly every neighborhood in those states just as they do today in Florida. When states legalize marijuana for adults, that changed. Legalization takes a serious bite out of the crime syndicates selling marijuana on the streets and puts those sales into regulated retail outlets and, as a result, makes marijuana less accessible to teens. As a mom, I am highly motivated to ensure our kids have less access to all drugs (alcohol, marijuana and tobacco included) and want to see it taken off the streets and put into a retail market where anyone buying marijuana must present a valid ID card showing they are of age.
To emphasize the point, the results on teen use are staggering. Several federal and state agencies have each independently reviewed the actual data and have consistently found that states which passed Amendment 3-type laws, saw a net reduction in teen use. Additionally, the conservative Journal of the American Medical Association found the exact same thing – by taking marijuana off the streets, it becomes less accessible to teens and therefore teen usage drops.
This fact was, by the way, publicly admitted to by the chief spokesperson of the No on 3 campaign, Dr. Jessica Spencer, who stated, “We agree that in states that legalize marijuana, teen use decreases.”
So, let’s get marijuana off the streets. Let’s put it into a safe controlled and regulated market where marijuana is lab-tested to ensure it doesn’t contain dangerous additives (like fentanyl or ketamine) and let’s keep it away from teens. Let’s vote Yes on Amendment 3
Kim Rivers is the CEO of Trulieve, a Florida-based medical cannabis company known as a Medical Marijuana Treatment Center
