Fear-mongering aside, the sky won’t fall if Florida legalizes recreational marijuana | Opinion
Marijuana policy
Florida already has real-world experience successfully regulating the retail sale and use of medical cannabis. Nearly one million Floridians are now registered with the state to purchase cannabis products from more than 600 licensed retailers. The sky has not fallen, nor will it fall when adult-use similarly becomes legal.
Twenty-four states have enacted adult-use legalization. None have ever repealed their laws. In states like California and Colorado, a greater percentage of voters endorse cannabis legalization now than they did when the laws were initially enacted. Nationwide, public support for legalization has never been higher. This is evidence that these policies are working largely as voters and politicians intended and that they are preferable to criminalizing cannabis.
Contrary to opponents’ claims (as in the Aug. 21 op-ed, “A case against recreational marijuana in Florida”), passage of Amendment 3 will not increase crime. States that have legalized cannabis see improvements in their overall crime clearance rates, including improvements in law enforcement’s ability to close violent crimes.
Enacting Amendment 3 will also disrupt the unregulated cannabis market. According to 2023 survey data, most consumers residing in legal states say they obtain cannabis products from licensed establishments. By contrast, only 6% of respondents say they primarily purchased cannabis from a “dealer.” In Canada, where marijuana sales have been regulated since 2018, nearly 70% of consumers say they purchase cannabis legally.
Criminalizing cannabis is a failed Florida policy. Let’s end it.
Paul Armentano,
deputy director,
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
Washington, D.C.
Mass transit
Re: the Aug. 21 online story, “Miami-Dade voters overwhelmingly say the county should expand rapid mass transit.” Almost a ✓quarter million people voted on the county’s nonbinding mass rapid transit question and it should be a surprise to no one that ✓nearly 80% of of them showed their support for the referendum. It’s long overdue.
Building more roads (especially double-decker expressways) will only exasperate the traffic congestion and road rage situation by encouraging more drivers to take to the road.
All world-class metropolises have developed first-class mass transportation systems that include heavy and light rail, trams and trolleys. Their rail lines provide service to just about every neighborhood. Their stations are conveniently located, elevators and escalators are seldom out of service. And when they are, there is redundancy.
It’s time for county commissioners to address the vital need to improve and expand our Metrorail system. There is no further excuse to inconvenience seniors, disabled, parents with strollers, bike and scooter commuters with annoyingly repetitive out-of-service elevators or escalators.
Metrorail ridership will increase by providing better service, expanding to popular neighborhoods, having more police to ensure security, less noise and relocating any homeless persons.
County commissioners have had eight long years to research, analyze and dissect The SMART Plan. It’s time to put it in gear and get rolling.
Harry Emilio Gottlieb,
Coconut Grove
Paving paradise
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has proposed converting more than a 1,000 acres of Jonathan Dickinson State Park (JDSP) in ✓Hobe Sound into golf courses. The affected area includes virtually all of the park’s higher elevation coastal scrub.
Elsewhere, development has largely obliterated this habitat type, especially in areas south of JDSP. Thus, JDSP is now the effective southern limit of the range of many species, including some that are endangered, threatened, or of special concern. Moreover, JDSP is one of the few remaining areas large enough to ensure the continued survival of certain species that require large areas of unbroken habitat.
In addition to functioning as a major reservoir of biological diversity, JDSP’s relative proximity to southern Florida’s large population centers gives it exceptional value as an educational resource. As a biologist with 50 years of experience in the area, I have led many ecology students, Scouts and others on hikes throughout the area that FDEP would alter. Other educators do the same.
The FDEP proposal is one of the most biologically irresponsible and destructive misuses of public land to occur in my lifetime. I urge the public to contact their state legislators, the governor’s office and FDEP to object to this proposal.
John Beck,
Kendall
Deny Amendment 4
As a specialist oncologist physician, I work tirelessly to save lives stricken with cancer. For the most part, my patients have lived full lives and seek to continue surviving. Not all are life “experienced,” however.
Caring for children stricken with cancer is a challenging mindset of its own nightmare. Some — fortunately few — are perinatal or just a few months into their life journey. With great anticipation, parent(s) eagerly await that new life. Then comes the cancer news and their world is shattered. The medical team, extended family, close friends, but mostly the parent(s) have more than just a new life but a whole new challenging lifestyle.
As their “provider,” I can attest to the decades of research and the billions spent to overcome childhood cancer — some with great success, others still seeking better outcomes. In more than 35 years of practice, I have witnessed many miraculous successes, but none without great commitment from all involved.
It is my fervent hope that abortion will become only a desperate medical emergency and the options for alternatives become strongly minimized. Society exerts great effort and treasure to save innocent children from defects and diseases.
Why are prenatal children not considered as precious?
Regardless of the confusing and deceptive wording in Florida’s Amendment 4, it should be clearly recognized as the child-rights destroyer amendment. Worse, it codifies legislation to prevent future modifications should abortion advocates reconsider their hard-line demands for abortion access. In the name of humanity, Amendment 4 must be rejected.
Ted Yaeger,
Daytona Beach
Cub reporters
While news about former University of Florida President Ben Sasse’s excessive spending resulted in many complaints, there is good news.
At least one of the two student reporters who broke the story in the UF Alligator — Garrett Shanley and Vivienne Serret — is from South Florida, so our local high schools did a good job in preparing them for their studies in journalism and their internships at the Independent Alligator.
Congratulations to their teachers and parents, as we appreciate their reporting.
Juan A. Galan, Jr.,
Coral Gables
A mighty force
Re: the Aug. 18 article, “Harris outlines her economic vision, but will it fly?” Vice President Kamala Harris and those advising her are ignoring a very basic driver of higher prices: the increase in the cost of fossil fuels.
Why is that so important? What is derived from oil and natural gas?
Many items we all consume: makeup (including lipstick), deodorant, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, nylon, polyester and many types of fabrics, plastics (including diapers, baby milk bottles, pacifiers and toys), reagents, pesticides, lubricants, waxes, tars (including asphalt for roads), gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and all forms of transportation.
The cost of flying every plane for any purpose has increased. The cost of planting and harvesting trees, transporting the logs to initial and finishing lumber mills, delivering the finished lumber to a train or otherwise for distribution also has increased.
The equipment used to prepare, plant and maintain fields and harvest crops for food production runs on fuel. The manufacturing and maintenance of that equipment also requires fossil fuel-based products.
Feed for animals has to be grown, harvested, processed, maintained in climate controlled, biologically safe conditions and delivered.
Electricity does not grow on trees; it is still primarily from — and will be for a long time — fossil fuels that produce reliable power in all weather conditions. It is a national security necessity.
Prices of just about everything would come down if the price of fossil fuels was lower and that will not happen under presidential candidate Harris’ proposals.
Robert E. Panoff,
Pinecrest