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Florida Supreme Court Approves Medical Marijuana Initiative

In the week the Super Bowl is being played by two cities (Seattle, Denver) in states that legalize pot, Florida just got that much closer to being a part of the blaze. The Florida Supreme Court has approved to have a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana be put on...
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In the week the Super Bowl is being played by two cities (Seattle, Denver) in states that legalize pot, Florida just got that much closer to being a part of the blaze.

The Florida Supreme Court has approved to have a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana be put on the ballot this November.

The court ruled 4-to-3 in favor of the ballot initiative on medical marijuana at 2:00 p.m. on Monday.

"By reading the proposed amendment as a whole," the judgement reads, "and construing the ballot title together with the ballot summary, we hold that the voters are given fair notice as to the chief purpose and scope of the proposed amendment, which is to allow a restricted use of marijuana for certain ―debilitating medical conditions."

See also: Florida Medical Marijuana Bill Author Jeff Clemens Says "It's About Compassion"

This news comes on the heels of elections officials announcing on Friday the verification of 710,508 petition signatures collected to force a vote on a proposed constitutional amendment.

In August, People United for Medical Marijuana set about to collect signatures to trigger a Florida Supreme Court review of the initiative's language. They even placed an ad on Craigslist to hire people to help get signatures.

The initiative received the inevitable blow back from GOPers in Florida, most notably from Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Florida House Speaker Will Weatheford.

Bondi argued to the court that the petition originally sent to them was ambiguous, suggesting that there was more there than meets the eye. Basically, Bondi said that if the amendment is passed, doctors will be giving away free pot to anyone willy-nilly.

But, as the ruling showed on Monday, that was not the case.

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