Home-Grown Medical Marijuana
Florida medical marijuana users hoping to see success for a 2024 initiative will have to wait to legally grow their plants at home. The campaign didn’t achieve donations or funding to cover costs associated with qualifying the measure.
Moriah Barnhart, a longtime cannabis activist cofounded the nonprofit Cannamoms in 2013 to educate people on the medical benefits of cannabis. She later launched the group WISE & Free Florida in December 2022 to place the issue on the ballot.
Barnhart’s daughter, Dahlia, was diagnosed with a brain tumor 13 years ago and given little chance of survival. An activist, Barnhart, was born. She says cannabis changed her daughter’s quality of life and has kept her alive.
“She started on cannabis about six months into her treatment for aggressive brain cancer and she slept through the night for the first time in her entire life that first night,” recounts Barnhart.
“She woke up hungry and thirsty the next morning. Most importantly, she quickly regained her enjoyment of life and her will to live. Within days, she started walking, talking, laughing, and playing again. I absolutely believe cannabis saved her life.”
Battle for The Initiative
Moriah Barnhart organized a prospective Florida ballot initiative to legalize home cultivation of medical marijuana by patients. Efforts failed to gather the required signatures to qualify for the 2024 general election ballot.
Barnhart recognized that it’s near impossible to amend the state constitution from a grassroots level. Unforeseen state barriers added pressure to the meager donations received and few volunteers.
Though signatures were gathered, costs to validate those signatures by state officials were prohibitive. The campaign’s application for a fee waiver was delayed for months on end.
“What happened was we got an influx of signatures that were going to be late, which is $50 to $500 if you look at Florida law,” said Barnhart. “I was looking at owing millions of dollars to the government.”
While the campaign had applied for the waiver, Barnhart said, the delay while that request was pending created further complications. And, the costs far exceeded the $4060 collected by the campaign.
Initiative supporters hoped to have a million signatures in by January. They relied on volunteers at clinics, dispensaries, and other sympathetic businesses. The lofty goal went unrealized.
Trulieve – believed to be the nation’s second-largest multi-state cannabis operator, told Marijuana Moment that the company gave a “big thumbs up” to the initiative. They support letting the voters choose the option for medical marijuana users to grow their cannabis.
Trulieve has spent more than $39.5 million toward the current adult-use legalization ballot effort. It did not, however, donate to the campaign spearheaded by Barnhart.
