Marijuana

Now that Florida’s cannabis culture is coming out of the closet, it’s time for a pot-inspired film festival.

The 2018 federal hemp bill signed into law last year by President Trump was long overdue and created ample avenues of opportunity for investment, especially in the thriving CBD sector. But it included a provision forbidding anyone with a felony drug conviction from entering the cannabis business for at least ten years.

Support for recreational marijuana in Florida seems stronger than ever. A petition to put legal weed on the ballot in 2020 passed a huge milestone last week, and a recent Quinnipiac University poll showed that 65 percent of Floridians now support allowing adults to use and possess small amounts of marijuana.

It is sometimes said the only reason crystal meth did not take off in Miami is because of what tourists refer to as “Cuban cocaine”: that sweet, nectary shot of espresso that keeps the city running — and triggers occasional episodes of road rage.

As Floridians continue to ponder the idea of a not-so-distant future in which weed is legal, Democratic state Rep. Shevrin Jones has moved for more sudden action. Yesterday he introduced a bill that would decriminalize possession of certain quantities of marijuana in Florida.

The morning of June 20, Michael Morell woke up as he did every weekday, when his alarm clock rang at 6. The 34-year-old father of two sat up and reached over to his bedside table to hit snooze. But when he attempted to lie back down, his muscles became rigid, leaving him frozen in a sitting position.

For years, Floridians have watched from the sidelines as states such as Colorado, California, and even Michigan have legalized recreational marijuana.

This past July 1, Florida legalized hemp — the part of the cannabis plant that isn’t psychoactive and can be used to make rope, paper, all sorts of food, and CBD oil. But the new law is also leading to a less expected consequence: It’s changing the way cops conduct drug enforcement.

Recreational marijuana hasn’t made it to the Florida ballot just yet. But more than a year ahead of the 2020 election, the City of South Miami is taking a strong stance in support of legalization. Late last month, the city commission passed a resolution supporting the legalization of recreational pot in Florida for people age 21 and older.

Activists hoping to get recreational pot on the 2020 ballot are undeterred by passage of Florida House Bill 5, the latest Republican attempt to subvert the people’s will. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law on June 7 in what the South Florida Sun Sentinel described as an “arrogant…

Having failed at a previous suicide attempt, South Florida Army veteran J.C. Ortiz was determined to succeed the second time. It was 2009 and he had just returned from his second tour of Iraq, where he had experienced a grueling 15 months of continual combat. Four years earlier, after another 18 months of war, he’d begun suffering from PTSD. He would become addicted to opioids.

Amigos Mini Market in Hialeah advertises that it sells soda, snacks, tobacco, and “much more.” Apparently, “much more” included a few baggies of weed inside the cash register, according to Hialeah Police.

As part of the green wave that has swept America, 16 states — from ultra-liberal California to ultra-conservative Oklahoma — have allowed citizens to grow their own marijuana. But ultra-belligerent Florida has spent millions of dollars denying people the right to grow cannabis for personal consumption.

The cannabis compound Cannabidiol (CBD) is beneficial for treating everything from addiction to arthritis, but cops are incarcerating people over it in the name of public safety. Some recent examples: Last month, a 69-year-old grandmother Hester Jordan Burkhalter was arrested in Disney World after  guards found a vial of CBD…

Fifteen-year-old Rick Naya was camping with a friend in South Florida’s J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area when he spotted a cargo plane flying above, dumping dozens of marijuana bales into the woods below. It was like a gift from the ganja gods. The year was 1975, and Florida was becoming…

Every Memorial Day, Miami Beach braces for an influx of visitors and the inevitable complaints about traffic. But thanks to the ongoing construction on the MacArthur Causeway, this year’s gridlock could be even worse — and police are basically telling drivers tough luck.

A last-minute effort by Florida Republican legislators to restrict citizen petition drives is only a governor’s signature away from becoming law. Governor Ron DeSantis, who has previously stated he sides with the will of the people, has made no indication of whether he will sign the bill. If he does,…

When Kaitlin McKeon was confronted with the results of her drug test, she already knew what it would show: positive for marijuana. Before she’d even enrolled in the nursing program at Nova Southeastern University, the bubbly then-23-year-old had told school officials she had a medical marijuana card and used the drug to relieve her chronic stomach pain.

On June 11, Tony Basaro is scheduled to attend an immigration hearing that will determine his fate.

Despite ongoing efforts by the Florida Legislature to thwart the will of the people, Florida likely has the fastest-growing medical marijuana program in the nation. More than 213,000 people are enrolled, with 10,000-plus signing up every month. New York, by comparison, implemented its medical marijuana program 18 months…

Never having been a pot smoker, Martha Bueno was surprised when the marijuana she began vaping from a local dispensary in 2017 helped allay the need to remove her thyroid. The 40-year-old vice chair of the Libertarian Party of Miami-Dade had multiple polyps and cysts growing on both lobes of her…