Rick Neale

FLORIDA TODAY

MELBOURNE – Back in November 1995, Brevard County officials refused to issue a permit for a Hemp Awareness Festival at the Wickham Park Pavilion, triggering a lawsuit.

What's more, organizers switched the two-day event from a festival into a political protest — and three cannabis activists were arrested for meeting without a permit, playing amplified music without a permit, and refusing to leave the park.

Fast forward to November 2016: In a landslide, Florida voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana by voting yes on Amendment 2. And Saturday, the Eau Gallie-based Florida Cannabis Action Network hosted a pro-pot festival at the Wickham Park Amphitheater.

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"Twenty years later, not only can we talk about it freely in the park — but we have changed the laws," Florida CAN Executive Director Jodi James said, exchanging a high-five with Florida CAN President Ethel Rowland.

Festival activities included a "Canna-Wellness Challenge" featuring a 5K race and disc golf tournament. A small group of tents near the amphitheater housed nonprofit groups, cannabis-based products and food vendors. Bands and speakers took the stage throughout the day, joined by costumed medieval re-enactors.

Rowland said the event was intended to celebrate passage of Amendment 2 and inform people of the health benefits of cannabis.

"Part of our Hippocratic Oath is, thou shall do no further harm. And I don't think, for some patients, the answer is to just give them a prescription for opioids and say, 'Eat this till you die,'" Mary Goyak, a member of the American Cannabis Nurses Association, told the audience from the amphitheater stage.

"I can tell you now, with this amendment passing, the sky's not going to cave in. When I went out there, and I saw what's going on in California and the way they've been using this for years, it's phenomenal," said Goyak, who is a Sarasota registered nurse.

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"People are finding that this really, truly helps them. It's a historical, wonderful time," she said.

Florida CAN's political action committee, Floridians for Freedom, collected petition signatures for a proposed 2018 amendment that would end the prohibition on cannabis. Specifically, adults age 21 and older could legally possess, use and cultivate cannabis.

"There is a fairly successful existing market here in Florida that is currently illicit. There are patients who are getting medicine. There are recreational users who are getting their product. There are distributors making money. And I would like to see the Legislature incorporate the successes of the existing market into the legislation that they come up with," Rowland said.

"Because we already have experienced growers. We already have experienced distributors. And people know what they want," she said.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638, rneale@floridatoday.com or follow @RickNeale1 on Twitter