There’s no doubt that medicinal marijuana would benefit those who suffer from diseases like cancer, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, HIV and AIDS. In the midterm election, Amendment 2 would have allowed for this. But votes seemed to have weighed more for those who believed that it would positively impact recreational use of marijuana, which is illegal and would remain illegal, if it had passed.
The amendment would have strict regulations on who is allowed to use it, which would include those who are legally designated as qualified patients and caregivers. Physicians would not be committing a crime by prescribing marijuana, and treatment centers would not be penalized for using it to help those with debilitating diseases.
It is a common mistake to think that legalizing medicinal marijuana would in any way propagate the illicit use of recreational marijuana by people with no ailments – with the amendment’s passage, we wouldn’t have seen any more potheads than there already are.
People who buy weed and smoke it recreationally simply would not be able to buy medicinal marijuana. They would have to illegally buy it from the same people they always illegally bought it from. One can make the argument, “Well, you can forge a prescription,” but what this doesn’t take into account is the fact that this argument can be used for any drug, and yet we don’t see people prescribing themselves drugs and successfully getting them filled at a pharmacy. And most doctors don’t even write prescriptions anymore. They call them in to the pharmacy, and that’s when the prescription is filled. Pharmacies are also obligated to call the physician if a patient seeks a refill on any prescription. It’s hard to imagine that the system that we have in place wouldn’t be enough to prevent abuse of medicinal marijuana.
The passage of the amendment would not have meant that marijuana would be more easily acceptable to those who want to use it recreationally, nor would it mean those who are qualified to use it would have access to unlimited amounts of it.
Legalizing medicinal marijuana could be seen as a step in the “right” direction for pot supporters in Florida. But, legalization wouldn’t have done anything to help those who wish for weed to be legalized for every type of use, including medicinally and recreationally. Recreational use of marijuana would still be illegal.
The people who oppose the legalization of medicinal marijuana fail to realize that it would not have facilitated the proliferation of recreational marijuana use in any way. They also fail to take into account the health benefits of marijuana on the terminally ill. It has been shown to treat severe pain and nausea, especially in those receiving cancer treatment. However, like any other drug, it has drawbacks. Health risks of using marijuana, especially in adolescence, include development of schizophrenia and other psychological disorders, as well as respiratory illnesses. According to the National Institutes of Health, marijuana users are almost five times more likely to have a heart attack in the first hour after using it.
So prescribing marijuana to a patient cannot be taken lightly. Only in the severest cases is it prescribed; the benefits of using it as a treatment must outweigh the negative side-effects.
Of the states that have legalized medicinal and recreational marijuana, Colorado offers some insight into how weed is used and controlled. Time magazine reported that 12.5 percent of Colorado’s population would take advantage of the legalization of recreational marijuana. And according to the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, most family physicians are not convinced of marijuana’s health benefits and believe its use carries risks. Nearly all agreed on the need for further medical education about medicinal marijuana. In a survey of members of the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians (CAFP), only 174 out of 1727 physicians reported recommending medical marijuana to a patient.
Obviously, if this amendment had passed in Florida, it would not have portended the end of society as we know it. We can see that in Colorado, life is much the same as before weed was legalized; only a minority of the population benefits from legalization. A portion of the minority consists of people who travel to Colorado just to legally smoke weed. But remember that Amendment 2 was only for the decriminalization of medicinal marijuana, not recreational marijuana. So there would be even fewer people benefiting from Amendment 2 than would benefit from decriminalization of marijuana across the board.
The small percentage of people who would’ve benefited from the passage of such an amendment would’ve include those who suffer from diseases with no cure or any other relief from suffering, not those who would like to get high for the hell of it. Suffering from depression is not a legitimate reason to be prescribed marijuana; there are plenty of other less risky treatments for such an affliction. Medicinal marijuana would only be used in worst-case scenarios in which a patient has no other hope for recovery or the easing of pain and suffering.
So for those who voted no, rationally process the ramifications of shooting this amendment down. Think about the people who are suffering needlessly. Stop for a second and think about the legality of recreational marijuana and that there would be no feasible manner in which a person that would not qualify for medicinal marijuana could obtain it.
And for those who voted yes, I hope it was not for selfish reasons. I hope you said yes because of the benefits it may have had for those who are chronically and painfully ill, not because of the incorrect belief that it would somehow lead to increased availability of marijuana for recreational use.
It is likely that the passage of Amendment 2 in Florida would not have benefited recreational users, but instead the small portion of Florida’s population with incurable and agonizing disease. In other words, for the everyday person who doesn’t smoke weed just to smoke weed and doesn’t have a crippling disease or even a loved one that suffers, Amendment 2 wouldn’t have changed a thing.
