Florida Constitutional Amendments
 

I am guessing that half of the Voters in Florida go to the Booth having little knowledge of the Amendment process.

1 The amendments are for a change in the Florida State Constitution.
2 It takes a 60 % affirmative to make the change effective.
3 Who proposed the submittal of the Amendment for vote

The change to the constitution can negate the existing laws by superseding them.

New laws cannot override the constitution.

Given the above, are you ready to vote yes.

As an example, there are current laws against drugs. Amendment 3 wants to legalize Marijuana for more than medical uses.

Comments say that can provide an opportunity for new tax revenue, elimination of bad Marijuana etc.

My question is how I do as an elector get any benefit. Do I want a contractor coming to the house with a Marijuana high? What rights do I have if I suspect he is under the influence, but it is legal. Is my auto mechanic high? Can I get money back if they are not performing correctly. Is there a legal limit or test that would apply to users and responsibility. I know that some would say that the same applies to alcoholics. Well two wrongs don't make a right.

There is no current reason to pass this amendment without knowing how the above will be protected.

Quite frankly, all of the amendments have this flaw. They are special interest solutions to problems not well thought out. Why should we enshrine them in our constitution?

The price of freedom. I like freedom.

I'm no fan of any drug including alcohol, but I do believe people should be free to live their lives as they want. Bad behavior is what needs to be outlawed.

You know that any contractor that wants to buy weed can get himself a medical card with no problem and no disease if he is willing to pay for it, and he can also buy it easily on the illegal market. So if you're worried about how this changes who might show up high, it does not.

But it does free cops from chasing silly pot infractions and running lives because of possession of small amounts. And it gets money away from drug cartels, and avoids fentanyl contamination in street weed, and puts cash into the state treasury.

THC is a far safer drug than alcohol, not 100% safe especially in growing brains but I'd rather my kids get stoned on the weekend than drunk.

Consider This
 

Native American reservations (Seminoles) will capitalize first, this would be well ahead of statewide commercialization. State licensed stores will have to sell at controlled prices much higher than the “Res” price. Eventually the two markets will compete, but the real smoke screen will be the origin of your marijuana purchase. Consumers overwhelmingly will opt for the best product for the best price. Why shouldn’t they?

Eventually marijuana prices will decrease because of competition with other sources (Native American and others) and the saturation of the market.

Marijuana is already everywhere, so what would be the purpose of repeating Colorado’s Amendment 64 mistake?

Oh boy, we get the toll on its youth like other states are getting. Increased use and high school expulsions for possession. Is that a good thing?

I’m for leaving things just as they are.

BINGO. I completely agree. Our focus needs to be on demanding politicians let law enforcement officers do their jobs.

Get drunk or high is your Right but not at the expense of others Rights.

Check out a YouTube posting by Sheriff Grady Judd about the marijuana amendment. Interesting points he makes

I suspect this thread won't last, but while it does.....

About halfway down this page from the League of Women Voters there is a very good and understandable discussion of the six amendments.

A clear piece

Just go to the Denver area to see how legal weed is working out. If you think there are a lot of bad drivers here now, wait till they start driving stoned.

Please edit your post and replace the word "high" with "drunk". Now what would you like to do about that?

Of more importance is proposition 4 which is Abortion rights. If you see the ads on TV they are Not telling you the entire story in fact they are lying to you. If you vote Yes you are opening up the State of Florida to become an Abortion vacation getaway destination. I believe that Florida needs to change the Law and not their Constitution. Six weeks is way too short of a time period. It is actually stupid and I don’t know who came up with that six week law. Let’s petition our legislators to make a common sense Law and keep our Constitution in tact!

You do know who came up with that six week law, it was our legislators who you want to petition.

Amendment four is a citizens' initiative in response to the laws the legislators have enacted.

(Amendment three is also a citizens' initiative)

Even if Amendment 4 passes, the powers that be who are against it, will just gut it like they gutted the amendment that passed a few years ago that allowed ex-felons to vote.

My wife (a very wise woman) once said "whenever the government declares war on anything, check your wallet!"

How right she is.

How many people in America remember when our government declared war on drugs? For those of us who don't, or who have forgotten, it was in 1971. The year that President Nixon declared drugs to be "Public Enemy #1".There were about 207 million of us then. There are about 345 million of us today. That means that there are 138 MILLION Americans alive today to whom that declaration by our government in 1971 is on a par with Dec. 8, 1941. Something they got to study in in high school, if they studied it at all. History.

But we're still paying for that little piece of history. And we're paying more and more every year. The numbers are staggering. Since 1971 Joe Taxpayer has paid well over one TRILLION dollars for the war on drugs. More than 38 billion in 2022 alone. ("Costs in the War on Drugs Continue To soar", nbc news dot com, Dante Chinni, July 2, 2023).

So how is the "war" progressing?

Well, 1.8 Million Americans were incarcerated in 2023 (Statista) which includes "353,000 people in state prisons, local jails, federal prisons, youth prisons, and military prisons" for drug offenses (Prison Policy Initiative). But the most meaningful number is one that escapes us at first glance. That 353,000 includes ONLY those people convicted of drug crimes--supplying, carrying, and selling illegal drugs. How many more are incarcerated for drug-RELATED crimes; petty criminals holding up liquor stores, muggers, home invaders, prostitution, fencing stolen goods, and the like, so they can get the money to feed their drug addiction? Those numbers aren't included in that 353,000 and is impossible to know for certain, but common sense alone tells us that is is significant. Someone convicted of a mugging may go to prison for it, but the court sentencing that person isn't going to care WHY he did it, and you can generalize that to any number of other crimes. Another 353,000, maybe? Half a million? More?

Maybe it is time we surrendered in this cockamamie "war on drugs". The numbers alone tell us it is not working and is working less well as time goes on. Clean weed in Florida is only a minuscule part of the picture. Getting the criminal element out, making drugs clean and readily (and cheaply) available, and making treatment readily available for those who want it, should be our focus.

What we're doing is a failure. Maybe it is time we started doing something that will work.

Marijuana usage does not affect driving capability. This is an urban legend promoted by sheriffs so that they can keep their "bust" records high enough to justify the little work that the police do.

Besides, anyone who thinks marijuana use is not already rampant has stuck their head in the sand. Too many of our youth have been arrested for marijuana possession which has broad ramifications for their ability to get a job or enter a profession.

A great majority of our prison population consists of non-violent drug possession cases.Do you really want to continue to have your taxes keep going up so that these "offenders" are off the streets...while so many other "offenders" are using? That makes no sense. We have the largest prison population in the world. It is time to start sorting out the truly dangerous from those whom society simply wants to look down upon.