It is an unusual experience to be seen by a legislator in the halls of the Capitol and asked to come into an office to discuss supporting a piece of legislation. This recently happened to our team. Now, we are faced with weighing in on these bi-partisan, companion bills for adult use.

Adult use bills from the House of Representatives and from the Senate are a reality. Senate Bill 1860, sponsored by Brandes (R), and its companion House Bill 1389, sponsored by C.G. Smith (D), accomplish one very important thing. They allow a discussion about adult use to begin in earnest in the Florida Legislature.

It is fairly broadly accepted that legalization of non-medicinal adult use is inevitable. We have heard a projection of 2024. What it will look like is not clear.

The existing providers for medical marijuana have staked a claim to the recreational market in both the Make It Legal Florida initiative to put it on a ballot for voters to decide and in the proposed adult use bills in the legislature.

FLCAN has consistently stated a preference for legislation over constitutional amendments to make changes possible without the need for additional amendments to the constitution. We support the legislature legislating.

The bills are not what we want in the end, but they are a starting point. A bill’s path through the legislative process has surprises like committee strike all amendments. The strike all amendment was a real surprise the first time I watched it happen. A bill that has been passed by a previous committee can be replaced in its entirety by an entirely new bill. The last stop before the Governor’s desk is a vote by the entire membership of the House or Senate and the bills must be identical.

It is a frustrating and convoluted process, but it is how our system works. We understand the system. We know the importance of continuing the discussion that we’ve started. Without an active bill working through the system the dialogue gets shut down.

The question of supporting bills with an eye to affecting the political process as they make their way through the system is in my personal mind easily answered. Support the bills and trust the process and that the support for adult use from the general population will win in the end. As Jodi James likes to say, “Everything will be alright in the end. If it isn’t alright then it isn’t the end.”

On the other hand, counting on people to do the right thing, rather than doing what is easiest or what is supported by the most corporate money, is rather scary. There is BIG money in the cannabis industry and we are unfortunately not that. We are the voice for the invisible.