Cancer symptoms don’t stop when patients cross state lines. Children with epilepsy don’t quit having seizures because they’re on vacation. And the millions of Americans who visit Florida each year don’t stop needing medication simply because they take a picture with Mickey Mouse.
Yet, patients with a medical marijuana card authorized by another state are currently prohibited from using medical marijuana while visiting Florida – one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world.
In 2017, Florida legislators acknowledged the wealth of peer-reviewed scientific literature supporting the use of medical cannabis through statewide legalization. As one of Florida’s largest networks of medical marijuana physicians, CannaMD now encourages state legislators to take the next step and extend this access to visiting patients who have legally qualified for medical marijuana treatment in their home state.
Click to Sign PetitionProblem In Practice
Disabled, Purple Heart veteran, Sean Worsley, is currently facing five years in prison for possessing medical cannabis during a drive through Alabama, even though he was an authorized patient in his home state of Arizona (which, ironically, allows visiting patients with a medical card issued by their home state to possess or use marijuana). CannaMD encourages Florida legislators to advance our state’s role as a leader in medical cannabis care and implement reciprocity laws so that patients visiting Florida avoid the same fate.
Precedents In Place
Several states, including Arkansas and Oklahoma, already exercise medical marijuana reciprocity laws.
As Florida doesn’t require patients to discontinue antidepressant, pain, or other epileptic medications while visiting, we petition legislators to take the final step in recognizing the validity of medical cannabis treatment and allow patients who legally qualify for medical marijuana in other states to continue using their medication in Florida.
Petition Details
While marijuana’s Schedule I status prevents its transport across state lines, we urge Florida legislators to allow patients who legally qualify in their home state to receive the same rights and benefits as Florida medical marijuana cardholders: entitling out-of-state cardholders to legally purchase medical marijuana products from licensed treatment centers and use said products under the same guidelines governing Florida patients.
Click to Sign PetitionPrioritizing Patients
As a state, Florida either acknowledges marijuana’s validity as a medically useful treatment or it doesn’t. To legalize use by certain patients, but restrict others – who have demonstrated equal justification for medical use – is a contradiction to the position established by existing Florida legislation. CannaMD strongly urges state leadership to prioritize patients, and extend Florida’s reputation as a leader in medical cannabis care, by implementing medical marijuana reciprocity laws for patients visiting from other states.
We respectfully recognize the bureaucratic and logistical complications involved, and thank all those willing to commit the hard work necessary to protect patients from a medically unjust ultimatum.
MORE INFORMATION
To share the petition, please use this link: Change.org/CannaMD-Florida-Marijuana-Laws
To learn more about Florida’s current regulations, please see: What Are Florida’s Medical Marijuana Laws?