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Governor Rick Scott said he will sign the bill into law when
it reaches his desk.
"They definitely made a difference in many people's lives today.
It was historic," said Ron Watson, a lobbyist whose 8-year-old
son, Dylan, died of leukemia.
Watson and several other parents, many wheeling their stricken
children into the Capitol, testified at committee hearings and
contacted House and Senate members throughout this year's 60-day
session of the Florida Legislature.
The parents advocated strictly controlled legalization of a
special form of marijuana known as "Charlotte's Web," named for
a Colorado girl whose epileptic seizures have shown some
response to the drug.
The substance is not for smoking. It is specially cultivated to
be very low in tetrhydrocannabinol (THC), the element that gets
users high, and also very low in cannabidiol (CBD), which eases
seizures in the brain.
"I'm a parent and a grandparent," Scott told reporters on
Thursday. "I want to make sure my children, my grandchildren,
have the access to the health care they want."
The Senate voted 30-9 to send the bill to Scott on Friday.
That vote, and the 111-7 House passage a day earlier, marked a
rare example of strong bipartisanship in the
Republican-dominated Legislature.
The proposal was tightly drawn to allay fears of conservative
lawmakers who generally oppose easing drug laws while allowing a
"compassionate use" registry for the oil or vapor extract of a
specially grown marijuana strain that is extremely low in the
intoxicating ingredient pot users enjoy.
The bill does not legalize marijuana in smoking form, but
authorizes designation of five dispensaries operated by
established nursery owners, who will cultivate the special blend
under closely regulated conditions.
The bill is not related to a constitutional amendment on
November's Florida ballot by a public petition campaign that
would allow doctors to prescribe regular marijuana for patients
with severe disabilities.
It is estimated that Florida has 125,000 epilepsy sufferers. The
House amended the bill to allow use of the drug for cancer and
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
Representative Dennis Baxley, a Republican, said he could not
support the legislation. Despite tight legal restrictions, and
although the low-THC strain cannot get users high, he said he
feared it was a first step toward legalizing more drugs.
"This could be the rifle shot that starts a massive avalanche,"
Baxley said.
(Editing by Kevin Gray and Gunna Dickson)
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Florida
Lawmakers Approve Medical Marijuana Bill
