• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

Judge Lets Smokable Pot Case Go Forward, Rejecting State’s Motion to Dismiss

January 28, 2018 | FlaglerLive | 9 Comments

smokable pot medical marijuana
Smoke gets in their eyes. (Interiorrain)

A lawsuit centered on whether patients can smoke medical marijuana will move forward after a Tallahassee judge refused to grant the state’s motion to dismiss the case.


Leon County Circuit Judge Karen Gievers on Friday gave the go-ahead to the lawsuit, filed by a handful of Floridians who are eligible to use medical marijuana and a political organization that was behind a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized the treatment.

The plaintiffs are challenging a state law, passed during a special legislative session last year, that carries out the amendment and, among other things, bans patients from smoking marijuana.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that the smoking ban violates the state Constitution, which they maintain allows patients to use smokable marijuana as a treatment if their doctors order it.

Lawyers representing the state, however, insist the amendment doesn’t expressly authorize smoking. And, they argue, the Legislature was within its authority to ban smoking because the amendment gives lawmakers the power to implement it.

After hearing arguments Thursday on a state motion to dismiss the case, Gievers agreed with the state that People United for Medical Marijuana, the political committee, lacked standing to sue.

But she denied the state’s motion to dismiss the claims of three individual plaintiffs — including Cathy Jordan, an outspoken proponent of medical marijuana who has had Lou Gehrig’s disease for more than three decades — who have debilitating medical conditions that make them eligible for the pot treatment. Gievers’ decision allows the case to proceed.

“The pending complaint contains sufficient allegations to meet the standing and active case or controversy criteria for the court to have jurisdiction over this declaratory judgment action,” Gievers wrote in Friday’s order. The judge also gave 10 days to modify the complaint to include the political committee as a plaintiff.

Jordan, who uses a wheelchair and has difficulty speaking due to her illness, is among a small number of patients who were authorized to smoke marijuana as a medical treatment long before the Florida amendment passed in 2016. She and her husband, Bob, spent more than five years fruitlessly trying to convince lawmakers to legalize smokable medical marijuana for other sick patients.

“I’m delighted we can move forward. I’ve spoken with Cathy Jordan and Bob. They’re very happy. We’re happy that it came so quickly. It allows us to advance the case and that’s what we intend to do,” Jon Mills, a former House speaker and onetime University of Florida law-school dean who crafted the constitutional amendment and who represents the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told The News Service of Florida on Friday.

Because Cathy Jordan is over the age of 65, Florida law allows her to request that the case be expedited, something Mills said he is likely to pursue.

“We want Cathy to be able to see the results as soon as possible,” he said.

Speaking to reporters after Thursday’s court hearing, Bob and Cathy Jordan — who grow their own marijuana — related their lengthy battle over her treatment, which included a raid by Manatee County deputies in 2013.

Cathy Jordan has consulted with more than two dozen neurologists, none of whom have advised her to stop smoking marijuana, according to her husband.

“The Legislature has taken the place of doctors telling us what we can and cannot do,” Bob Jordan said. “We voted for a constitutional amendment so we couldn’t be prosecuted for smoking cannabis. We’re still in danger.”

But during Thursday’s arguments, state Deputy Solicitor General Rachel Nordby told Gievers that banning marijuana smoking was within the Legislature’s realm.

“The plain language of the medical-marijuana amendment authorizes the Legislature to enact laws consistent with the amendment. Here, the Legislature has enacted a law that embodies reasonable health and safety concerns in compliance with the amendment,” Nordby argued, adding that “there is no express requirement that smoking has to be allowed” in the amendment.

Mills agreed that the Constitution doesn’t expressly require the Legislature to allow smoking.

“It doesn’t. It doesn’t require the Legislature to do that because the Constitution itself allows smoking. There’s no need for the Constitution to say, ‘Legislature, you may allow smoking, or must,’ ” he told the judge.

–Dara Kam, News Service of Florida

Support FlaglerLive's End of Year Fundraiser
Thank you readers for getting us to--and past--our year-end fund-raising goal yet again. It’s a bracing way to mark our 15th year at FlaglerLive. Our donors are just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who seek us out for the best-reported, most timely, trustworthy, and independent local news site anywhere, without paywall. FlaglerLive is free. Fighting misinformation and keeping democracy in the sunshine 365/7/24 isn’t free. Take a brief moment, become a champion of fearless, enlightening journalism. Any amount helps. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible.  
You may donate openly or anonymously.
We like Zeffy (no fees), but if you prefer to use PayPal, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Stan Wolak says

    January 28, 2018 at 10:42 am

    For many years we had a big push to end all types of smoking in our Country,so now all this time and money has been thrown out the window since recreational pot is now legal in many states.What a waste!!! This Country is going up in smoke.I,m glad at my age I have seen the better years of our Country!!!

  2. Dave says

    January 28, 2018 at 12:36 pm

    Finaly this has gine on too long, there are sick people who need their medicinine and many people standing in the way, Smoking Marijuana helps sick people feel better and helps with the illness, you are not a doctor, let these people use Gods medicine as he intended it

  3. MannyHM says

    January 28, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    These folks are suffering medically. They are not to be envied. I wish the MJ is vaporized rather than smoked with all the harmful hydrocarbons.

  4. Duncan says

    January 28, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    A push to end smoking because of health realted issues has nothing to do with this case.

  5. Anonymous says

    January 28, 2018 at 2:44 pm

    Why is there a need to smoke it if ingesting it in food etc. is supposed to work and be as beneficial? POLLUTION is what comes to my mind and second hand smoke…..don’t make us smell your waste!! It’s not what you know, it about who you know……let us not forget Florida is one of the most corrupt states in the nation…..http://floridapolitics.com/archives/191150-harvard-says-florida-one-of-americas-most-politically-corrupt-states

  6. Really says

    January 28, 2018 at 2:59 pm

    Why would one, an elected official, want to argue against this when the constituents approved it. Smh Vote the dinosaurs out next election. Utter nonsense and a waste

  7. MRC says

    January 28, 2018 at 5:39 pm

    Who gives you the authority to undermine or negate what my doctor and I decide is the best course of treatment for my very serious medical condition? Do I tell you that taking your blood pressure medication is dangerous because it is artificially manufactured and that it is in your best interest to stop taking it because it is not what my friends and I think it is not in our best interest for you to take it? Sounds ridiculous right? Yes, and trying to alter the Florida constitution to meet your political aspirations is morally and legally wrong! You can’t just go in and tinker around with the constitution without then being held accountable in a court of law. The law is the law! Accept it, and stop interfering with medical doctors and patients’ rights to engage in a medical treatment which is LEGAL without interference by people who have NO RIGHT to invade my privacy and force your ignorant opinions on me. Did you ever stop to even consider what kind of personal hell medical marijuana patients are going through? Where is your compassion for the least among us? Shame on you!!!

  8. The Mon says

    January 29, 2018 at 8:32 am

    Hmmm stan I wonder what those better days of “your country” looks like, are you referring to the times when your people had their own water fountains and restaurants? When everyone in your school looked like you? Please elaborate, dont be afraid to show your true colors…

  9. Anonymous says

    January 29, 2018 at 2:12 pm

    Not a toker, but as a freedom-loving Floridian, I long for the day, possibly soon, that we will have full recreational legalization. People who want their grass shouldn’t have to deal with shady drug dealers because of this totalitarian mindset to control other people’s lives. Ever since the people of this state spoke on Amendment 2, this Legislature has used every underhanded trick to prevent it from being properly implemented. It’s shameful how they are obviously in the pocket of the medical and pharmaceutical lobbies, who feel threatened by the competition from the fledgling marijuana industry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Conner Bosch law attorneys lawyers offices palm coast flagler county
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • BillC on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 9, 2025
  • Robert Moore on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Pogo on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Pogo on Tariffs, Trade Wars and the Great Depression’s Lessons
  • Pogo on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 9, 2025
  • Shanti on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Jane Gentile-Youd on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • People suck on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Bob on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Blake Neal on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Janene Neal on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Deborah Coffey on DeSantis Stands By Attorney General’s Defiance of Federal Court Order Halting Cops’ Arrests of Migrants
  • Laurel on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, May 6, 2025
  • Ed P on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Friday, May 9, 2025
  • Jay Tomm on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents
  • Judy Scardano on Without a Single Question, Bunnell Board Approves Rezoning of Nearly 1,900 Acres to Industrial, Outraging Residents

Log in