TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters)
— Acknowledging a major
shift in societal attitudes toward marijuana, a key committee of the
Florida legislature voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to approve
medical use of a "non-euphoric" marijuana extract that has shown
promising results in treating seizures.
"We have evidence of benefits," Republican state
Representative Cary Pigman, an emergency room physician, said of the
substance known as cannabidiol, or CBD. "We have no evidence of
harm."
The Florida House Criminal Justice Committee voted 11-1 in favor of
approving a proposal to allow medical use of CBD. Before the vote,
Pigman referred to parents in the audience who had told of their
children having epileptic seizures that steadily destroyed brain
cells.
"Each of these children is moving closer to their deaths, at a
lightning-fast rate, compared to the rest of us," he said.
The bill is not related to a constitutional amendment put on next
November's Florida ballot by a public petition campaign that would
allow doctors to prescribe regular marijuana for patients with
severe disabilities.
The pending proposal (HB 843) allows tightly controlled use of a
specially cultivated strain high in CBD and low in
tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive compound that gets
smokers high.
The Georgia House recently voted 171-4 for a similar bill and
another CBD proposal is pending in Alabama. The Florida bill has
heavyweight sponsorship by criminal justice committee chairman Matt
Gaetz, a conservative opponent of the medical marijuana ballot, and
Representative Katie Edwards, a Democrat from a liberal Fort
Lauderdale district who supports medical prescription of the herb.
"We've been fooled into thinking this is something unsafe for so
many years and that's stifled good research," Edwards said after the
committee meeting.
Gaetz emphasized that under his and Edwards' bill, there would be
significant safeguards against mixing medical and recreational pot.
The drug could not be in smoking form, a user must not be in
possession of any illegal drug, use of the drug would have to be
approved by a physician, and the drug itself would have to be
sufficiently low in THC and high in CBD.
Gaetz also said the bill provides a startup $1 million in
"research bait" for pharmaceutical companies to come to Florida and
refine the substance.
"You have a plant I understand has a negative stigma to it
because of the side effects of recreational use, but the fact is it
has medical value," said Representative Dane Eagle, a Republican who
said he had opposed marijuana legalization until now.
The bill next goes to the House Appropriations Committee and the
full Judiciary Committee. A companion Senate bill (SB 1030) has not
yet been heard in that chamber.
Holley Moseley, cofounder of Caring 4 Florida and mother of an
11-year-old girl with epilepsy, thanked the committee for advancing
the legislation, which she said would "mean a better life for our
daughter and our family."
