HB 1139 and SB 1250, The Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act

Status of the Bills

HB 1139

Introduced and Referred to Committees:

·         Health Quality Subcommittee

·         Business & Professional Regulation Subcommittee

·         Appropriations Committee

·         Health & Human Services Committee

SB 1250

Introduced and Referred to Committees:

·         Committees: Health Policy (HP)

·         Judiciary (JU)

·         Criminal Justice (CJ)

·         Appropriations (AP)

What YOU CAN Do

·         Help the bill get a fair hearing in its committees. Call the leadership of both chambers and the committees to which the bills are currently assigned.

·         Call the chairman of the Health Policy Senate Committee:

Senator Aaron Bean, (850) 487-5004.

·         Call Representative Ken Roberson’s office, chairman of the Health Quality House Subcommittee: (850) 717-5075

·         Have the bill pushed through committee or heard in the General Assembly

·         Contact the Senate President Don Gaetz and tell him why we need this bill: (850) 487-5001

·         Contact the Speaker of the House Will Weatherford and tell him why this bill should be heard on the floor of the house: (850) 717-5038.

·         Sign on for Actoin Alerts at http://www.flcan.org.

What CAN Happen

Authorizing a qualifying patient to possess and administer medical cannabis, and possess and use paraphernalia for a specified purpose, etc. as of this year, if the bill passes. If the bill gets a hearing this year, then we can expect it to go much farther next year, with an even greater chance of passing..

Bipartisan Support

Medical cannabis has the support of all parties because anyone has the potential to need this medicine, and nearly everyone knows someone who could benefit or who could have benefited from this medicine.

Onerous and Daunting

Funny how after you’ve done this long enough, any crack in the wall seems like a major breakthrough. Many years ago, Rob Kampia made it very clear that MPP would never spend a penny to make cannabis legal in Florida. Rob said Florida was onerous. He wasn’t entirely wrong. Those who know Florida politics understand that we have 11 distinct media markets, and what plays in Boca has no business in Apalachicola.

This week, our work in Tallahassee was really successful. More and more the decision makers know it isn’t a question of “if” medical cannabis will happen, but “when.”

Florida Cannabis Action Network went out on a limb this session and rented a furnished apartment in Tallahassee. The apartment more than pays for itself; but only if we keep bringing in advocates from around the state to talk to their lawmakers and peers. This week John from Palm Harbor joined us.

John is closer to 80 than 70, but he made the four plus hour trip to Tallahassee alone. He tried to bring two different patients with him. One was hospitalized in the days prior to the trip. The second, fear kept him at home, fear of coming out of the closet, fear of being persecuted – just fear.

But John came, because he knows how hard it is for sick people to make the trip. At nearly 80 years old he has realized someone must speak for these patients who have so much to lose by exposing themselves.

Last week, a staffer looked at our bill and said, “Wow, this is daunting.”

Daunting? I think to myself, that is better than onerous, so I’m having a “You’ve come a long way, baby” moment.

But at the end of the day, this perfectly healthy person who we pay to do big things has a lot of nerve calling doing her job daunting. Daunting, daunting. What do you call an 80 year old man driving all the way to Tallahassee to speak for those who can not speak for themselves? What do you call get out of bed every day knowing that your future means never a pain free day? What do you call looking down the barrel of a gun to defend your country, then coming home missing a piece of your body or soul?


Florida CAN has been asking people to do what they can to make cannabis reform happen, we provide you with tools, but it is up to you to make this thing happen. Lawmakers may think this is daunting, but creating sensible policies is their job. If your life without cannabis might be considered challenging, or daunting, maybe even onerous, please, call your representatives office, tell them your story and stand next to your friend when they make the call. Together, we can make light work of a onerous, but worthwhile, task.

Drugs can't surrender

Nearly ten years ago my husband and I attended a presentation by Cato Fellow, Sanho Tree. Sanho had been studying US eradication efforts in South America. The presentation to a classroom full of University ofCentral Florida NORML students was a frank discussion of the havoc our drug problem was wreaking on native populations. 

Sanho talked at length about the War on Drugs but tonight, one of his observations echoes in my mind. 

If this is a War on Drugs and the drugs can’t surrender, how we will we ever work out an exit strategy?

We’ve been in Tallahassee for a month now, two weeks during committee hearings, a week when lawmakers were at home and last week, the first week of session. From the moment the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate gaveled the session open, the legislature was on the move. On the agenda, everything but an exit strategy for the war on drugs and safe, legal access to cannabis.

If we want sensible drug policy on the agenda this year, we need the seven out of ten Floridians who support medical cannabis to do more than just nod in agreement. We need a division of letter writers, tossing Letters to the Editor to every paper in the state. We need skilled wordsmiths to hone their material and head out to the city council meeting to battle for a resolution supporting legal access to cannabis for patients in Florida. 

If you live in the panhandle, know someone in Niceville or can find a good way to reach out to people who live in President of the Senate, Senator Don Gaetz’s district we need you to put boots on the ground. We need to take hearts and minds in those rural counties between Panama City and Pensacola. The heart of North Florida is home to the man who holds the fate of our patients in his hand. Until Senator Gaetz and Speaker of the House Will Weatherford are properly motivated to move on reforming cannabis then simply will let another year pass. 

The drugs can’t surrender and neither can we. Patients need access to the best medicine and in many cases, the best medicine is cannabis. Where do you stand in the War on Drugs? There are many things you can do to help, but nothing helps more than a person visit to your state lawmakers office. Learn who your lawmaker is by clicking here.

Calling to register your support for the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act (SB 1250 in the Senate and HB 1139 in the House) is really important and if you have a phone tree of friends, encourage them to call too. 

The battle cry – no surrender, no retreat.

Day 7 of the legislative session

53 Days remaining to provide safe legal access in Florida

Cathy and Bob Jordan work on Florida Cannabis Bills HB 1139 and SB 1250

Join Cathy and Bob Jordan as they travel to the Capitol to encourage support for HB 1139 and SB 1250. This is actually the fourth day of session.

When The Choir Sings

Day 9
Remaining Committees – 7
Remaining Days to be heard – 38
Remaining funding – 21 days

I’ve worked with a number of wonderful people in the drug reform movement who say they don’t like to speak at hemp festivals and pot rallies. They feel as though they are just “speaking to the choir” at those events. Over the years, as the number of people supporting safe, legal access to cannabis increases, it seems, more people qualify as converts.

So, in a fellowship you have converts, but it is the choir singing that will often move you as much, if not more, than the spoken message.

The choir of supporters in Florida have begun to sing. Nearly 1000 people sent e-mail messages to key members in the House and the Senate. Those voices moved two lawmakers who agree we should let the voters decide.

I feel pretty blessed to be here, seeing the lawmakers come to understand what it is we know about this plant. Being away from home is hard, even when the work is this important. I stayed in Tallahassee to make some strategic meetings making me more than a little homesick.

Each week we have identified select targets for educational efforts. This week we’ve adopted a pretty ambitious agenda. From our target list of Senators and House members, we’ve identified 600 supporters from their districts. If we can move our choir to share their story with their own personal representative and invite their neighbors to do the same, we will create the avalanche of support we need to pass a medical protection bill this year.

My job, as I go door-to-door meeting with these lawmakers is to listen for their hidden fears and find a way to move them. We already know the greatest misperception we have to overcome is the idea Floridians don’t support safe, legal access to cannabis medicine.

On the average, when we send out a “request for action”, a narrow percentage of people actually open the e-mail and take action. If only 1 in 20 of the people we asked to contact their lawmaker takes action, only 30 letters will be sent.

Do you believe the voice of 30 people is enough to move lawmaker in a state with nearly 18 million people? Surely, the walls of Jericho fell with just the blast of a trumpet and in this world of infinite possibilities nothing is impossible, but I believe we need more people to join the chorus.

Sometimes the choir sings, sometimes we all sing along.

Today, we need to all sing along. What are you waiting for? When will you talk to your neighbor about writing a letter, your barber, the stock boy and cashier? When will you call upon your congregation and office friends? If you wait for someone else to carry the message, we will be waiting another year for safe access for our patients.

Every day I wear a couple cannabis leaf lapel pins on my suit jacket. In the halls, in the elevators, in line at the cafeteria in the Capital, I am constantly asked about them. Last night, I went to a college bar with a former NORML board member. No one seemed to notice the embroidered pot leaf on my shirt. In the bars, in the streets, among the people this is not an issue, people already agree with you.

It takes a lot of courage to contact those lawmakers each day. It took a lot of strength for Cathy to come here with her caregiver to go door-to-door among scoffers. It is hard being here, away from a family I adore, dogs that always miss me and a home I love.

Yes, it is hard, it is a little scary to come out of the closet and show your true colors, but for now, we need you to join the choir and sing along! Don’t be afraid, it is the right thing to do.

Tallahassee Trepidation

Thursday January 12, 2012
The last few days the reality of spending a month in Tallahassee is really hitting home. The trip to Tallahassee -350 miles one way – doesn’t lend itself to coming home much during session. There is so much to do in Tallahassee, and I don’t mean sight-seeing, it seems senseless to make the drive back to Brevard.

Session started Tuesday, Cathy Jordan, our president went up for the first week. Cathy knows her way around the Capital – she has represented this plant, herself and the plight of patients in Tallahassee and Washington, DC. Cannabis couldn’t have a better representative in Tallahassee.

She went up with her husband Bob, fellow Vietnam vet Frank D and caregiver, Adam. Frank arrived in Tallahassee with the flu. After days of preparation and a new suit, Frank was stuck in his room for the first two day. It made me realize how precious our time in Tallahassee is during session.

How can I make the most of every moment in Tallahassee? There are thousands of patients who suffer every day because they won’t break the law by using this medicine. Those already using cannabis, an untold number of Floridians, are placing their liberty at risk to protect their health.

I feel the weight of their fear. Why should someone be afraid to use a simple plant? I get so angry when someone calls cannabis the “demon weed” or some such. Do they not know according to the Bible in Genesis 1:29 “And God said , Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” I like the King James Version best, other versions say for you it shall be food. King James says meat – as hemp seeds are the second highest source of protein behind soy, I’d say meat is appropriate.

So, how do I prepare myself to represent this plant?

There is the practical, get those comfortable shoes resoled, print plenty of business cards. The real important stuff, hug the boys more, make more time to talk to them each day before I leave, tell my husband how much I love and appreciate him. Take lots of deep breaths, through my nose and believe with the help of cannabis supporters around the state, we will make the most of every day in Tallahassee.

Cannabis is good for me and its good for you.

Who would have believed I would learn so much in a hotel room. May 3, 2011, I had the great honor to spend a day in a hotel room in West Palm with Dr. Denis Petro and Cathy Jordan learning how cannabis is good for me and good for you too.

Cathy is an ALS survivor. The doctors will tell you there is no such thing as an ALS survivor. But, what do you call someone who was given 3-5 years to live over 25 years ago?

In January 1986, Cathy’s disease was confirmed by the teaching hospital at the University of Pennsylvania. The prognosis was fatal. The disease would ravish her system, they encouraged her to get her affairs in order and advised her on protecting her pulmonary system (quit smoking). Since that first diagnosis, Cathy has seen dozens of specialists at some of the finest hospitals in the country. Duke University, University of Miami, the list goes on. Cathy jokes about neurologists thinking they are God, she quickly adds that even a god would not be so arrogant as to believe they were a neurologist…

Most of the doctors Cathy has seen are most interested in helping her die with dignity. Cathy is more interested in living.

Dr. Petro flew to Florida to participate as an expert witness in the Jeffrey Kennedy trial due to start May 2. The prosecution dropped the charges against Mr. Kennedy leaving Dr. Petro free to meet with Cathy. Cathy and Ervin Dargon of Mingo Productions have been working together for years documenting her struggle to legalize cannabis in Florida.

As a patient advocate, Cathy fights every day for people who cannot advocate for themselves. Dr. Petro is an incredibly approachable advocate himself. He knows the historic politics of cannabis, and had a front row seat for the evolution of cannabis science. Dr. Petro has worked on motor neuron disorders for over 35 years. In the 1980’s Dr. Petro performed double-blind clinical trials with Marinol on MS patients. In his opinion, no other drug has the same effect on spasticity as cannabis.

As a specialist in MS, Dr. Petro has seen thousands of patients and testified in hundreds of trials. Until recently, both International MS patient advocacy groups had opposed cannabis use, now the U.K. MS Society provides patients with details about the various strains of cannabis. In the U.S. at least 50,000 patients with MS use cannabis daily instead of the spending thousands of dollars each month on traditional MS drugs according to Dr. Petro, yet many of them are subject to arrest for their medical decision.

It was fascinating to hear the Doctor talk about the affect cannabis has on the hippocampus; some species will have more impact on the hippocampus than others. Currently, in Colorado vendors supply over 30 cannabis preparations available to treat various systems. The right strain of cannabis will increase your acuity while another strain might make you sleepy.

When asked to help us overcome the objection to smoked medicine, Dr. Petro was genus. He talked about how we take medicine tends to be cultural. We had to laugh when we learned that most French people on anti-depressants us a suppository. Contrary to some people’s belief, the distribution of cannabinoids works best if administered as an inhalant or spray in order to get it to the brain and system quickly. By using it as an inhalant you allow for faster absorption, only intravenous injections would come near the absorption rate and smoking it rather than taking a pill or eating a preparation eliminates the interaction in the liver.

When asked about the future of cannabis, Dr. Petro said he believes by the end of 2011 the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency will agree to schedule full spectrum cannabis based drugs as Schedule 3 products.

Cannabis-based drugs on the market, easily accessible to patients is a good thing if it happens. When Florida Cannabis Action Network designed its first strategy in 1999, we recognized moving Marinol to Schedule 3 as a positive step. When it was rescheduled, we celebrated it as a success. However, Marinol is expense, poorly promoted –therefore, rarely prescribed and even patients with access report it doesn’t work as well as smoked cannabis.

Cathy has no intention of giving up her plant in exchange for the next new thing. Just because the government has allowed pharmaceutical companies to take over a portion of the medical cannabis industry, Florida Cannabis Action Network is going to continue the crusade to give people access to this wonderful plant that can heal our bodies and prosper our planet.