this is the weekly on click Orlando comm
with Justin warmoth welcome back in 2016
71 percent of Florida voters approved
amendment to legalizing medical
marijuana statewide the push largely
made possible by attorney John Morgan
but since then the legal challenges
haven't stopped the latest ruling
prohibits patients from smoking their
medicine a ruling Matt Morgan blames on
special interests all right so I want to
switch now to medical marijuana two
years after it was passed the voters
passed it here in Florida the fight
still continues what can you tell us
about that and ultimately what is the
issue that is preventing people from
smoking medical marijuana it's very
simple special interest big money big
corporations alcohol tobacco private
prison systems big pharma that's it in
sentence that's it so what happens is in
politics money gets in the way of
decision making money drives decision
making in politics if you look at
historical campaign contributions to the
main people that are standing in the way
of the of the medicine that the patients
need and you track their their
contributions you see what's happening
it's as clear as day and so I think that
the main the main deterrent between the
patient and their medicine is if special
interest now governor Scott says he's
following the law he's created the law
so he says politics are put aside on
this he says I'm following the law and
that's why I'm not allowing hey hey it's
a smoke he's following the law which he
created which his legislature created so
I think to say that is to is to say that
he's following his own law not the law
not the will of the people but the law
that was created by the state to deter
people from getting their medication so
these other special interests can
continue to profit as they always have
so let's talk about why a patient needs
to smoke it rather than taking it a
different way there are a number of
different ways that they can consume it
what's the stark difference in smoking
it rather than something else what are
your patients telling well for example
if you have ALS like Kathy Jordan has it
drives up the saliva this live--i can
literally
make her feel like she's choking to
death and when she smokes marijuana it
drives us live up so she can actually
breathe for example and and there's a
there's thousands of other examples of
smoking some people it just impacts them
in a different way
appetite stimulation stress relieves
pain relief they don't get the same
impact from say an edible or a tincture
or something that is not smoked there's
science to support this there's there's
medical literature treatise after
treatise that supports this but there's
a variety of different reasons and it's
really just for many patients it's the
only thing that gives them the relief
they need did you think that two years
ago when this was passed that you would
still be dealing with absolutely we
anticipated that special interest these
big corporations these big industries
would continue to interfere to the
extent that they can this is going to
cut into their bottom line in a major
way and so I think that it was
anticipated but the fact that it's gone
on this long especially after the judge
in Tallahassee ruled that the state's
law was unconstitutional and said
essentially that there's no chance of
prevailing on the merits and an appeal
the fact that it's still going on at
this time especially with an election
coming up that to me is shocking I think
the political calculus is is lacking for
some of these politicians that are
standing in front of 72% of the people
if they were smart I think that they
would consider that in a different way
and and listen to the people that are
going to either elect them to office or
not elect them to office
well now that medical marijuana has
passed you know you we have all these we
have five Democratic candidates for
governor who are running on the platform
of legalizing recreational marijuana
ultimately most of them want to tax tax
it to put that money towards education
and other things but they all want to it
seems
legalize recreational use do you think
that has some potential and I did see
that you guys aren't really in favor of
legalizing it just the tax it
correct well yeah I think I think
recreational is inevitable nationwide I
think soon that will be the case in
America if you look at the stats it's
something like 95% of Americans believe
that marijuana should be medical
marijuana should be legal something like
65 percent believe that recreational
marijuana should be legal so when we
talk about 65% of the population that is
a political landslide and so what will
happen over time is people like Jeff
Sessions will no longer be in office and
people will have to answer to the will
of the people on a 65% issue to be
taking away people's liberty for
possessions of small amounts of
marijuana and to be locking them up and
to be treating them like criminals is
not right and especially given the the
political climate where we know at least
a significant majority are in favor of
recreational marijuana so I think that's
coming and back to medical marijuana
what's next for you guys as you continue
to fight for clients who prefer to smoke
it well I think at this point in time
we're really watching Governor Scott to
see if he's going to withdrawal his
appeal he controls this appeal and so
we're really watching whether or not
he's going to withdrawal his appeal if
you look at his Twitter feed into social
media and you see the amount of people
that are commenting on that particular
issue I think it's foreseeable that
that's going to be a real hot topic come
election time
senator Nelson has already come out in
favor of the law as it was written and
so I think only time will tell how
governor Scott will react to it I do
want to ask you about the elections and
as we get into a very very heated
campaign both on the senator level and
the gubernatorial election as well what
do you guys hope to see who are you
backing who are you endorsing well we're
kind of sitting on the sidelines right
now many of these people that are
running our friends and so we're kind of
just seeing what the people what the
people's position is on these particular
candidates I've spent time with all of
them they're all very nice people
but at this juncture we're just trying
to see what the people are deciding and
then take it from there
you would probably be endorsing your
father if he was running I know he
decided not to do that do you see
yourself ever getting into politics I
don't think so I think that in the
private sector we can still do a lot of
good I understand that there is a need
for public servants especially new
public servants and and I think public
service is a noble cause there's no
doubt about it but what deters me and I
think what deters people like me is the
bloodshed that accompanies entering
politics and the the intrusion into the
family and the intrusion into one's life
and so that's what deters me but what is
encouraging to me is the the amount that
we can do from the private sector I
think we can do more from the private
sector than we could in Tallahassee for
example that's certainly true with with
my dad he's he's done more in the
private sector than Tallahassee's done
probably in the last 30 years and will
continue to do more in the private
sector and I think being in the private
sector allows him to continue to be
authentic and speak his mind as opposed
to having to appease a base and so I
think I think ultimately this Republican
Democratic system or Republican Democrat
system will go by the wayside and and I
think that's what's causing a lot of the
division in this country is you have to
be on a team but our generation we don't
label ourselves as on a team we're issue
voters does your dad have any regrets
about not running or did he make the
right decision in his eyes I think he
has regrets about it I think there's a
large part of him that wanted to do it
that has a call to serve that that every
time we go to a restaurant people plead
with him to serve and I think he is at
his very essence at his heart he's a
people pleaser he wants to please the
people and I think he could shake up
Tallahassee more so than any other kid
so I think there is a part of him that's
letdown you know the family spent a lot
of time on that issue and and kind of
for some of the reasons that we went
through the the political bloodshed
that's involved with running for office
we decided that at this stage in our
life with my children growing up my
brother's children growing up
we really didn't want them to be seeing
Papa on TV being made a mockery out of
you know that's what happens if you
remember you know Charlie Kristen and
and governor Scott's campaign I think I
recall they literally put a clown
costume on Charlie Crist and had them
kind of dancing around and and so you
know we just had made the decision that
for now politics is not for us but I
think in the future you'll probably see
John Morgan again and only time will
tell
that's all the time we have for you for
updates on every topic discussed this
morning head to click Orlando comm slash
weekly I'm Justin Mormon have a great
Sunday