PNJ Editorial Board

CLARIFICATION: Sunday's editorial about Amendment 2 referenced "ridiculous, fear-mongering mailers about 'kid-friendly pot candy' and outrageous claims that attorney John Morgan 'hopes senior citizens are dead.'" While it is true that large opioid and pharmaceutical companies have opposed medical marijuana in general, the Florida-based group responsible for those specific mailers was heavily financed by Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and an heiress to a chain of supermarkets and pharmacies. So this editorial has been updated from a previous version.

Early voting is in full swing and millions of Floridians have already cast ballots. Still, we’ve had phone calls from many readers over the last week who’ve been confused by a flood of advertisements making Amendment 1 to the state constitution out to be “pro-solar.”

As we’ve said before, it is not.

The messaging is unethical and intentionally deceptive. “Yes for the sun” is a farce financed by Florida’s largest power companies. Follow the money to find the truth behind the advertising. Companies like Gulf Power and Florida Power & Light have spent nearly $22 million — financed by your monthly power bills — pushing shady messaging aimed at tricking you into voting yes. Don’t fall for it.

The Miami Herald’s Mary Ellen Klas reported most recently about audio that has surfaced of a utility-hired consultant essentially bragging about how slick and tricky the whole Amendment 1 campaign was.

Klas wrote that “Sal Nuzzo, a vice president at the James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, detailed the strategy used by the state’s largest utilities to create and finance Amendment 1.”

On the audio obtained by the Herald, Nuzzo called Amendment 1 “an incredibly savvy maneuver” that “would completely negate anything they (pro-solar interests) would try to do either legislatively or constitutionally down the road.”

He also explained the strategy behind intentionally distorting pro-solar language to push an anti-solar agenda:

“To the degree that we can use a little bit of political jujitsu and take what they’re kind of pinning us on and use it to our benefit either in policy, in legislation or in constitutional referendums — if that’s the direction you want to take — use the language of promoting solar, and kind of, kind of put in these protections for consumers that choose not to install rooftop.”

As we’ve said before, the proposed amendment promises to grant you “rights” and “protections” that you already have. It’s absurd that it ever made it on the ballot in the first place. Put the lights out on this ratepayer-funded sham. Vote “No” on 1.

And after you do that, follow the money again to decide where you land on Amendment 2, which will legalize medical marijuana in the state of Florida.

Medical marijuana groups and Orlando-based attorney John Morgan have openly financed and advocated the amendment. Large opioid and pharmaceutical companies have opposed medical marijuana. And a Florida-based group heavily backed by Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and an heiress to a chain of supermarkets and pharmacies financed ridiculous, fear-mongering mailers about “kid-friendly pot candy” and outrageous claims that Morgan “hopes senior citizens are dead.”

Reject the nonsense. Look to common sense.

Whatever your moral convictions about marijuana are, it’s no secret the government sanctions far more dangerous and deadly substances in legal pharmaceuticals. There is simply no constitutional basis for restricting sick citizens’ access to medical marijuana, while permitting them to take lab-produced poisons that can be as harmful to people as any disease.

The overwhelming majority of Floridians have come to understand that, which is why Amendment 2 will likely pass this year.

This is not full legalization of the drug, similar to what other states are voting on. This is a conservative approach. The amendment will bring regulated medical marijuana that requires the discretion and expertise of Florida’s physicians. It’s a move to trust doctors more than politicians when it comes to your health. It’s a smart and compassionate change that will help countless Floridians access a natural, God-given, plant-based medicine that can potentially help them far more than toxic chemicals they are already taking.

In other words, it’s just common sense. On Amendment 2, we recommend voting “Yes.”