Florida’s Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried pushes for marijuana legalization within the state and accumulation of donations for sponsoring the authorization issue.
According to the Florida Politics report, Florida’s top-ranking Democrat, Nikki Fried, requested grants to help advance the marijuana reform through a fundraising email.
Dubbed ’Making Marijuana legal’, the email requests grants to allow Fried to continue championing for marijuana authorization. These donations will protect people affected by the prohibitive regulations, improve medical marijuana accessibility and foster a customer-friendly hemp sector within Florida.
Fried also applauded MORE (Marijuana Opportunity Expungement and Re-investment), which was approved by America’s Representatives House in Early December.
The MORE act is significant legalization reform that would expunge state cannabis prohibition. It seeks to legalize marijuana by scraping it off the list of state-controlled substances and permitting states to create their cannabis provisions.
The MORE Act also aims at implementing social justice bills through social equity regulations and retroactive measures. One of the provisions entails a 5 per cent sales tax on marijuana products which would fund a marijuana justice department. The department will be in charge of various Community Reinvestment Programs such as literacy programs, job training, health education, youth mentoring
In a podcast interview, Commissioner Fried pointed out that legal marijuana would create employment and returns for the state, minimize health care expenses, and decrease workload to the courts. She added that Florida has ABC liquor shops within its neighborhood, however it does not lead to crime. The state hasn’t experienced any crime surge around dispensaries countrywide.
The agriculture commissioner isn’t alone in the fight for marijuana legalization in Florida. ‘Make it Legal Florida’ is launching a campaign to include adult-use marijuana initiative to the 2022 ballot. Legislators have also announced efforts to table adult-use authorization reforms in next year’s session. This makes Florida one of the upcoming states expected to authorize adult-use marijuana.
