Florida's Senior Citizens and What's Being Done To Reach Them

[Tudo]

This fellow apparently has billboards up since last year on the east coast of Fla. I'm going to make a donation and have already referred several people here on the west coast to him.

The Silver Tour
http://www.thesilvertour.org/

There's 18 Million People in Fla. Florida gets a lot of tourist money from people in the northeast, midwest, South, and is a retirement mecca of the USA. Miami is the Banking headquarters for Latin America and several beaches in Fla have consistently scored among the finest in the world.

Legalized Cannabis just makes sense for any society which claims to be steeped in freedom and especially if kept in a narrow box for medical use, there's certainly millions of retirees who will benefit as will millions of Floridians who are sick and in need of relief now.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

The biggest obstacle I see is they're also the most programmed group of people.

Remember that they grew up with anti-cannabis propaganda in a "Pills are wonderful" world.

Yes, they need cannabis the most. Mostly they need cannabis so they can break their programming about cannabis and pills.

Catch 22.

Stay Safe!

 

[Mud Boy]

Robert Platshorn is one of my heroes. IMO he's the light at the end of the tunnel for Floridians who want sensible cannabis laws, and the community needs to support him. Remember, old people vote.

 

[Tudo]

The biggest obstacle I see is they're also the most programmed group of people.

Remember that they grew up with anti-cannabis propaganda in a "Pills are wonderful" world.

Yes, they need cannabis the most. Mostly they need cannabis so they can break their programming about cannabis and pills.

Catch 22.

Stay Safe!

Oh you know it. During the "elections ) Ron Paul completely avoided Fla. We watched the seniors crowd around either obama or..........newt gingrich. It doesn't get more brainwashed than that. Socialism/Fascism , that's the choice.

I have a business that I built 30 years ago. We own property. We're going to give it hell but if it doesn't look possible in 2014, well..............

Let me say this however, in MY experience over the last 30 days, 100% of the seniors are in favor of it. 100%. I've purchased a few hundred O'Shaunghnessy's and they are currently in 3 retail establishments along the Tamiami Trail ( Tampa to Miami Trail ), for those who don't know their website is http://www.beyondthc.com

I'm a few years away from being a "senior". My older brother is 7 years older than me. He supported the war in Vietnam, I threw things at police and did my share of counter revolution in the late 60's early 70's and was forced to enter the service after being caught with 2 joints on 4th of july.

HIs group is who is in charge now. Fuckers. My group will be in charge next and a one sentence description to mark the differences is he grew up listening to the Beach Boys ( who I like too ) and driving what is now called "muscle cars" and I grew up listening to Hendix and I drove a VW.

That's how profound a difference between the 2 so close age groups.

 

[Tudo]

Robert Platshorn is one of my heroes. IMO he's the light at the end of the tunnel for Floridians who want sensible cannabis laws, and the community needs to support him. Remember, old people vote.

Bobs great. We were all doing a lot of big things in s/Fla back then. Try to visualize it was so rampant we would run pick up trucks loaded with bales up and down A1A in Ft Lauderdale. NO TARP to cover sometimes, just too busy. I remember having an entire building on Hendricks Isle we used for a warehouse. He got nailed big. I was caught with 1500 lbs and that was the end of my fun for awhile. I went on vacation in max security, got 8 years. Did a bullet. That was in 1981. The biggest guy got nailed with a tractor trailor loaded with mersh and a million ludes. He got 30 days and got to have his body guard in the jail with him. Nice huh?

And you are right, they do vote, something young people don't do. So I agree with what he's doing 100% and am about to make a donation so I can get one of those cans that Irv gets

 

[huligun]

Robert is a great man, a cannabis warrior, and he deserves all the respect and recognition he can get. He spent more time in prison than anyone else over the weed, and of course lost everything. He is still being hounded by the DEA for his activism now. They want to beat him down and teach him what is right.

 

[Puscifer]

Momentum is building in this state! Some very BIG shakers/movers have come out and openly support MMJ. And just as important, folks with DEEP pockets are pushing this. The stars will align next year for Florida!

 

[Drift13]

In today paper a local man is trying to use MMJ defense in court in Pasco Co. Sure hope it works for him.

 

[Puscifer]

In today paper a local man is trying to use MMJ defense in court in Pasco Co. Sure hope it works for him.

Florida is one of the few states that are not medical but let you argue medical necessity. As long as the person is not caught with an obscene amount of plants or scales & baggies an stacks of cash then medical necessity can be successfully argued.Of course it helps to actually have a medical condition
The tides are slowly turning, I predict we will be a MMJ state in 2014!

 

[Tudo]

Florida is one of the few states that are not medical but let you argue medical necessity. As long as the person is not caught with an obscene amount of plants or scales & baggies an stacks of cash then medical necessity can be successfully argued.Of course it helps to actually have a medical condition
The tides are slowly turning, I predict we will be a MMJ state in 2014!

Can you please cite any specific such defence(s) in Fla that have been sucessful? If they exist a lot of people who would like to use that same defence if an arrest took place.

 

[DTFuqua]

I have at one time looked up this matter and there is truth to these statements. That's the only hope for salvation that I can find for staying in Fl. I sure hope it goes through for mmj here. I have an old home that's paid for but not worth enough to relocate to comparable home in any med state so I'm kinda just stuck here.

 

[bruceinpacifica]

The biggest obstacle I see is they're also the most programmed group of people.

Remember that they grew up with anti-cannabis propaganda in a "Pills are wonderful" world.

Yes, they need cannabis the most. Mostly they need cannabis so they can break their programming about cannabis and pills.

Catch 22.

Stay Safe!

We did grow up in a world with an anti-cannabis propaganda in a "Pills are wonderful" world but the kids of today receive much more programming in their formative years in school than we did.
For the most part we were allowed to be kids, we were taught how to think by our teachers not what to think like todays youth.
Some of us also gained enlightenment from the 'turn on tune in & driop out' movement of the 60's.

We were programmed to a certain extent but we've had more time than any other generation to unlearn that programming and I can tell you that it can take decades.
I guess it depends on your point of reference.
Didn't mean to butt in but I thought I'd lend a point of view from a member of that generation.
Cheers

 

[Morcheeba*]

Can you please cite any specific such defence(s) in Fla that have been sucessful? If they exist a lot of people who would like to use that same defence if an arrest took place.

here is an attny that could cite past cases

Sammis Law Firm
http://www.criminaldefenseattorneyt...rijuana/MedicalMarijuanaNecessityDefense.aspx

EDIT: FRM ABOVE LINK

"he Florida Necessity Defense GenerallyThe necessity defense was recognized at common law and had not been clearly rejected by the Florida legislature. The necessity defense under Florida law has specifically been recognized by the Florida Supreme Court, and is more clearly established then under Federal law.
In fact, the necessity defense has its own standard jury instruction approved by the Florida Supreme Court. Under Florida law, it is a defense to a criminal charge if the defendant committed an act out of necessity. Florida law provides for the following four elements to establish the necessity defense generally:

1. The defendant reasonably believed under the circumstances that an immediate emergency or danger existed which threatened significant harm to the defendant or another person;
2. The defendant did not intentionally cause the emergency or danger; and
3. The defendant had no way to avoid the emergency or danger except by committing the crime charged; and
4. The harm that the defendant sought to avoid by committing the criminal act must outweigh the harm caused by committing the criminal act.

The policy behind the necessity criminal defense is that when a person is in an emergency situation there are circumstances in which the person finds himself confronted with a choice of two evils: committing a criminal offense by the letter of the law with a harmful result or comply with the law but in the process commit an even greater harm. In that situation, social policy excuses the crime that results from violating the law but avoiding the greater evil. See LaFave Scott, 1 Substantive Criminal Law § 5.4, at 627 (1986).
The Marijuana Medical Necessity Defense under Florida Law
In 1989, in State of Florida v. Musikka, a woman charged with cultivation of six marijuana plants asserted the medical necessity defense at trial in Broward County, Florida. The woman testified that she suffered from glaucoma, had already lost sight in one eye after a failed medical procedure, and used marijuana to keep from going blind in the other eye. The woman's own physician, an ophthalmic researcher with the Bascom-Palmer Eye Institute in Miami testified at trial that he knew that she was using marijuana to treat her condition and believe that without marijuana she would go blind.
Judge Mark E. Pollin, heard from several witnesses, including other medical experts, and found the woman not guilty because her use and cultivation of marijuana was excused under the "medical necessity defense." In its written order, Judge Pollin reasoned:

In our haste to rightfully prosecute those who profit from the social trafficking and sale of illicit drugs we cannot become blind to the legitimate medical needs of those who are afflicted by incurable diseases and require appropriate medical care. To ignore the plight of such people renders the law callous to the most basic of all human rights; the right of self-preservation...
This is an intolerable, untenable legal situation. Unless legislators and regulators heed these urgent human needs and rapidly move to correct the anomaly arising from the absolute prohibition of marijuana which forces law abiding citizens into the streets - and criminality - to meet their legitimate medical needs, cases of this type will become increasingly common in coming years. There is a pressing need for a more compassionate, humane law which clearly discriminates between the criminal conduct of those who socially abuse chemicals and the legitimate medical needs of seriously ill patients whose welfare and very lives may depend on the prudent therapeutic use of those very same chemical substances.
​

State of Florida v. Musikka, 17th Judicial Circuit, Broward County Florida, Case No. 68 4395 CFA 10, The Florida Law Weekly, 14 FL W 1 (January 27, 1989).
Florida appellate courts have expressly recognized the marijuana medical necessity defense. The Supreme Court decision is limited to the federal statute, and is not binding on Florida courts interpreting the medical necessity defense under Florida law.
In Jenks v. State of Florida, 582 So. 2d 676 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), the First District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction of a husband and wife charged with cultivation of cannabis. The Court held that the couple established sufficient evidence to establish the medical necessity defense at trial as a matter of law. In fact, the Court ordered the trial judge to enter a judgment of acquittal. The court stated the medical necessity defense as follows:

1. The defendants had no control over the circumstances which required the choice between the lesser of two evils;
2. No less harmful alternative was available; and
3. The harm sought to be avoided was less offensive than the criminal acts committed to avoid it.

The Jenks Court specifically reasoned that the fact that Marijuana was classified as a Schedule I controlled substance did not preclude the medical necessity defense for marijuana cultivation. Specifically, the Jenks Court noted that the statute provided that "[n]otwithstanding the aforementioned fact that Schedule I substances have no currently accepted medical use, the Legislature recognizes that certain substances are currently accepted for certain limited medical uses in treatment in the United States but have high potential for abuse."

Subsequently, the Florida legislature deleted that specific language, however the First District Court of Appeals again held that the medical necessity defense applied to marijuana cultivation cases when sufficient evidence support the defense. In Sowell v. State, 738 So. 2d 333 (1998), a man was convicted of marijuana cultivation in the Circuit Court of Washington County, FL. The Sowell Court reasoned:

The "limited medical uses" language which was formerly contained in section 893.03(1)(d) did not directly address the medical use of marijuana or the defense of medical necessity, and under established rules regarding the preservation of the common law the chapter 93-92 amendment to section 893.03(1)(d) does not affect the defense of medical necessity. Indeed, the existence of this provision was not critical to the decision in Jenks, which was more fundamentally predicated on the understanding that the "no currently accepted medical use" language in the subsection (1) introduction relates to general medical availability, and does not preclude the common law defense. As in Jenks, the appellant should have been allowed to pursue the defense of medical necessity.
​

See also Sowell v. State of Florida, 738 So. 2d 333 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)."

 

[Tudo]

Well it's good to know that out of hundreds of thousands of cases there's an appelate decision from more than a decade ago and a couple of somewhat vague caes equally dated. If there's more than one container the charge will be distribution and regardless of the quantity there are people who have been sent away to jail, been forced into the military, have had multi-year probationary terms almost designed to violate the parolee/probationer with surprise drug tests etc. Distribution even though it's half dozen little baggies of head stash, ( imagine if you're long term storing ) and there's a whole different dynamic with these types of people who unfortunately are in charge.
Fla is becoming a scary place to be if you're sick, have a degenerative disease and getting older. At least when you know there are places where cannabis is legal. Imagine if you couldn't leave.

That's probably closer than anyone things. Your papers?

P.S. Looks like the kind of law firm that would really fight for the client. Just read a little of their positions etc and they appear to be a-ok. Thanks for the link

 

[Tudo]

We now have copies of O'Shaughnessy's available free at a large Beauty Salon which caters to the over 60 set ( dropped off a case of them today and the owner in turn handed me a stack of signed petitions to turn into the morgan bunch! ), a Philly Cheesesteak place also on Tamiami Trail ( a main artery, the Tampa-Miami Trail), a local ethic grocery store and yesterday while having fun ( not! ) at the oral surgeons office in Ft Myers, my doctor announced to me that she's 110% in support and to please set aside a case of these papers to be given away in her waiting room. She has a HUGE client base stretching from all across the midwest, northeast, SW Fla. Huge base. New patient's I heard are in 5 MONTH waiting lists.

I purchased a couple hundred of these papers and am going to have to get more now, 200 of them are just being absorbed with a lot of them being read by the people who have the big votes in Fla.

 

[mia_reddog]

This fellow apparently has billboards up since last year on the east coast of Fla. I'm going to make a donation and have already referred several people here on the west coast to him.

The Silver Tour
http://www.thesilvertour.org/

I went to his last seminar here in Ft. Lauderdale and I am planning on attending the next one as well in October. I completly respect Mr. Platshorn and all that he is doing to change the opinions of Seniors over MMJ.