Act today to help defeat bill that would make Florida's marijuana laws tougher than current federal law

HB 173 seeks to lower the standards for establishing prima facie evidence of intent to sell or distribute marijuana. Under the proposed provisions of HB 173, any person found to be in possession of 25 plants or more is assumed to be trafficking marijuana, unless a defendant can rebut such a claim with evidence of his or her own.

The current threshold for assuming someone is trafficking marijuana in Florida is set at a more reasonable 300 plants. The corresponding federal threshold is set at 100 plants.

Please e-mail and call your legislators today and let them know that you oppose this legislation.

According to a 2006 report by Dr. Jon Gettman, a regional economics expert and adjunct instructor at Shepherd University, there are 12 states where marijuana is the top cash crop. While other southern states such as Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee fall into this category, Florida does not. Of the five states with a marijuana crop worth over $1 billion, Florida was not one.

The harsher standard proposed by HB 173 is overkill and simply not needed. If this law is enacted, it will do more harm that good, not to mention the fact that none of our marijuana laws has ever stopped people from using, buying, growing, or selling marijuana.

Besides setting the trafficking standard so low that many who grow marijuana for their own personal or medical use will be unjustly accused of and charged with trafficking marijuana, there are several other reasons to oppose this legislation:

1) Distribution of 25 plants is a felony in third degree, punishable by 5 years in prison and $5,000 in fines.

2) Florida courts currently recognize a medical necessity defense for medical marijuana patients. If HB 173 passes, legitimate medical marijuana patients who grow their own medicine could be wrongly accused of distributing marijuana.

3) Florida's already overcrowded jails do not need to be filled with nonviolent offenders whose only crime is growing marijuana for personal use.

4) In Florida, a person can already be sentenced to one year in jail and fined $1,000 for possessing under 20 grams (less than one ounce) of marijuana. This makes Florida one of the nation's leaders when it comes to cruel and unusual punishment of marijuana users — there is simply no need for Florida to continue down the failed path of prohibition.

HB 173 also seeks to create a new crime for owning a house that is used for growing more than 25 plants in the presence of a child. The proposed penalties for having 25 plants or more in the presence of a child are 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, a felony in the first degree. While proponents will argue that this provision is to protect children, it's more likely effect will be to break apart families, ruin lives, and saddle taxpayers with huge costs for incarcerating nonviolent marijuana users. Growing marijuana in the presence of a child is not wise, but removing a family breadwinner from society, breaking up a family, and perhaps forcing children into poverty is a significant overreaction to the situation.

Thank you for supporting the Marijuana Policy Project and all of our allies. Please forward this e-mail others in Florida so they can take action as well.