The bandwagon for medical marijuana that eponymous attorney John Morgan and United for Care Executive Director Ben Pollara were steering last year has been picking up eclectic–and politically pragmatic–ridership. Last week Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes filed a major “medical grade” cannabis bill. The 60-day legislative session begins next month.
Brandes’ bill was given a qualified endorsement by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, an opponent of last year’s medical marijuana constitutional amendment that won nearly 58 percent of the vote.
Now add in the American Academy of Pediatrics. It doesn’t directly involve itself in the pot politics of states, including the 23 where it’s already medically legal, but it keeps the pressure on related issues. It says marijuana should be available on a compassionate-use basis for children with debilitating or life-threatening diseases. It has also recommended that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reclassify marijuana and remove it from the DEA’s Schedule 1 listing for controlled substances.
Frankly, it’s inexplicable that marijuana still shares such a list with heroin and LSD. It’s the stuff of “Reefer Madness.” It’s also the medical counterpart of American foreign policy that still groups Cuba with Sudan and Syria on the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.