Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has had a change of heart.
After campaigning against Amendment 2 last year, Gualtieri now says he supports a bill to legalize medical marijuana. The wording of the bill makes all the difference, he says.
"I’m a compassionate person," Gualtieri said. "I don’t want to see anybody suffering, and frankly, if somebody’s on their deathbed, I don’t care what they take to alleviate the pain."
Gualtieri said he supports legalization of marijuana for medical purposes but only for people who truly need it.
"What I don’t want to see is under the guise of eliminating that pain, under the guise of medical marijuana, is recreational marijuana," he said.
The Sheriff said his problem with Amendment 2 was the way it was written, allowing any physician, whether they were a medical doctor or not, to prescribe marijuana as they saw fit.
Earlier this week, Republican State Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg filed a bill that would allow people suffering from serious conditions such as cancer, AIDS or Parkinson's Disease to obtain and use medical-grade marijuana if a physician certifies its use.
Doctors would have to specify the "the specific concentrations of individual cannabinoids that must be present to treat the patient's condition," and patients would be limited to a 30-day supply.
If the bill (Bill 528) is passed, it would legalize marijuana use by many of the same chronically-ill patients who would have been covered by the failed amendment.
In the past, similar bills have been filed, but always with Democratic sponsors and always with no results. But this time, it's a Republican who has drafted the bill.
Gualtieri said the new bill is a step in the right direction.