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Legislation setting up the framework for voter approved medical marijuana cleared the State House today and is getting closer to a compromise in the State Capitol. But as Mike Vasilinda  tells us, lawmakers also want to find out what few others are asking: How does pot affect the people using it.

As the House debated medical marijuana, the same question kept coming up. Where’s the science. Rep. Julio Gonzalez is a medical doctor from Venice.

“You will find no convincing scientific evidence” says Gonzalez.

Rep. Gayle Harrell (R-Stuart) was equally blunt.

“I have Significant concern about the science behind medical marijuana” Harrell told colleagues.

To help answer the science question, the legislation has a four hundred thousand dollar appropriation. it goes to one of the states leading Cancer Centers, Moffit, in Tampa.  Sen. Bill Galvano is the driving force behind the idea.

“I want to know the real effects. What are the negative effects, what are the down sides?

You can’t listen to a commercial on pharmaceuticals on the radio or tv without a whole litany of bad side effects, and right now, there’s just a rosy picture being painted for medical marijuana. I want the truth” says Galvano.

The money is solely for administrative costs. Who pays for what research and how much is still very much up in the air says Moffitt’s Jamie Wilson.

“There is very very little research if any that exists, and the people of Florida really need to know, and of the country need to know, what is the proper dosage. what is the efficacy when it comes to medical marijuana?”  says Wilson.

More money could come later. Galvano is in line to be Senate President in 2018.

While there are still some policy disagreements, nobody is arguing that research is a bad idea.

The voter approved marijuana amendment must be in place by the first of October. Any research findings will come much later than that.

The authors of Amendment two are still unhappy with the latest draft legislation. It still does not allow smoking medical marijuana, and it continues what is know as vertical integration, which means growers are also the distributors and retail outlets.

Florida lawmakers have approved a million dollar payment to a young woman sexually abused as a child while in state care. The Department of Children and Families knew the woman we’ll call LT was in the home of a sex offender when it closed her case.

By outward appearances, L .T. is a well adjusted married young mother of two. As a child, the Department of Children and Families placed her in her great aunt and uncles care.

The great uncle, Eddie Thomas, was convicted of a sex offense two years after LT arrived in the home. DCF did nothing.

“They closed my case after the sex offense” LT told us, just after the Senate approved her claims bill.

As a result, LT was physically and verbally abused from ages two to ten.

“Towards the end, I was sexually abused by my uncle. he was my blood uncle. I ran away from home.”

A decade ago, DCF didn’t go back into the home if someone had been convicted of a sex offense and check on the welfare of the child.

The policy changed after LT’s case came to light.

“I decided I didn’t want that to be who I am anymore. I didn’t want to be a victim. I wanted to be a survivor.”

Claims bills are few and far between. But State Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto pushed her million dollar claim.”

“She highlighted that inconsistency in our process and how wrong that was. She was a very courageous girl” says Benacquisto.

L. T. is now going to school. She hopes to stop what happened to her from happening to other young women.

“My experience has given me insight into some of the things children are going through and it has also given me a passion to protect children” says L.T.

And the experience she’s had is not something you can learn from a textbook.

A Special Master in the case concluded it was foreseeable that leaving LT in her Uncles that it was more than likely she would be sexually abused. The Department of Children and Families did not contest the payment.

Florida Voters will be able to vote themselves a higher homestead exemption. By a vote 0f 28-9, the Senate approved a resolution for the 2018 ballot raising the homestead exemption from 50 to 75 thousand dollars. Critics argued local governments would have to cut services if the increase is approved, but supporters say the owner of a 150,000 dollar house would save about five hundred dollars a year.

“Five hundred dollars to fix their boat, or go fishing with, or take a family vacation with. what’s wrong with our constituents having an opportunity for a middle class tax cut? “ asked Senator Wilton Simpson.

The measure will appear on the 2018 ballot. 60 percent of those voting would have to say yes for the tax break to take effect in 2019.

The Florida House gave tenative approval to its medical marijuana legislation Friday. 71 percent of voters approved it in November, but patients looking to smoke medicinal pot may be out of luck.

Compromise over marijuana is in the air at the Capitol. A restrictive house plan has gotten more patient friendly, says Senate Sponsor Rob Bradley.

“They’ve gotten rid of the ninety day waiting period. they’ve added edibles. They’ve added vaping. So I feel feel like the House is in a much better position than they were before” Bradley says.

Weeks ago, House sponsor Ray Rodrigues said almost everything was on the table.

“Aside from the issues of no smoking and no taxation.”

Neither the House or Senate plan now allows smoking medical marijuana.

“If the drafters of the amendment wanted to be explicit on that point, they would have been explicit on that point” says Bradley.

But authors of the amendment say smoking is referenced once, when it is prohibited in public, implying it is allowed, and through the definition of cannabis already in law. More importantly, drafter Ben Pollera says ask a hundred people.

“What they think of when they think of marijuana, they think of a green leafy thing that you smoke” Pollera told us by phone.

Pollera says lawsuits are likely if smoking isn’t in the final version

The biggest sticking point between the House and Senate is how many new licenses there will be, and who will get them.

Black Farmers are guaranteed a license in both the House and Senate. The Senate plan produces more licenses faster than the House, which lobbyist Ron Watson says is needed.

“To ingest more competition into the system. to drive down prices” says Watson.

Both sides will be working on a final comprise over the weekend.

For the first time since 2010, state lawmakers are increasing the odds a new gambling deal will emerge by the time they finish, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, it could result in fewer greyhounds being raced, and more slots in counties that have approved them.

Greyhounds may not be racing much longer. Lawmakers are moving toward allowing dog tracks to stop racing greyhounds. Undecided is whether county voters where tracks are located must first vote. Either way. aAnimal rights activist Carey thief is elated.

“I’m confident that we’ll pass those referendums, but there will be a delay. More dogs will be injured. More dogs will die” says Thiel of Grey2K USA.

Gambling legislation is moving for the first time since 2010 because lawmakers fear a pending court ruling. Lobbyist Ron Book  says the so called Gretna case has lawmakers looking over their shoulder.

“That’s what in part is certainly pushing the House, the court decisions, and not wanting further expansion by judicial edict as opposed to conscious edict by the policy makers” says Book.

Lawmakers also want a quick decision because they also face pressure from a proposed citizen’s initiative that wold give any future gambling changes in the future to citizens.

Still on the table is whether 8 counties where voters approved slots will get them. The Senate, which proposed the idea is holding firm, but offered to reduce the number of machines to appease a reluctant house. Representative Jose Felix Diaz

“The Federal courts. they continue to take positions that expand gaming in Florida. And if we really want to curb gaming, it would some sense to expand a little.”

Naples Ft. Myers dog track operator Izzy Havenick is hopeful.

“It’s the hardest thing to run a business when any day things could change. You don’t know tomorrow what’s going to be legal, You don’t know two days down the road” says Havenick.

Lawmakers also want to come to a deal because they need the cash more games will bring, especially if they lost the case now coming from the Seminole tribe.

The legislation, as proposed, would also remove any legal questions about daily Fantasy sports games.

State lawmakers are closing in on the broad outlines of an 83 billion dollar state budget, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, even small details could derail the progress long enough to push lawmakers into overtime.

The Senate gets it’s plan to build a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee. The House would get it’s cuts to Visit and Enterprise Florida, The House would also get a 200 million dollar plan for Charter Schools of Hope. In exchange for the Senates gets a boost to University funding. Early Wednesday, Senate Budget Chairman jack Latvala tweeted there was no deal until it was announced by the Senate President. The Majority Leader said discussions were on going.

“I wouldn’t classify anything as having fallen apart” says galvano. “And  at this point there is some tweaking going on on what I would call second and third tier issues.”

After the morning Senate Session, President Joe Negron wasn’t ready to announce a deal, but sounded optimistic.

“It’s down to just a few issues where we’re trying to clarify some language to the satisfaction of both the House and the Senate” Negron told reporters

On the House side, the Speaker was absent from the floor most of the morning. In an exclusive interview he appeared to pour water on the finality of the talks.
“It’s very very difficult. we’re a very conservative body, and its difficult dealing with a body that doesn’t hold our principles and our values” Corcoran told us.

And while lawmakers appear to be shutting down the Governor’s top priorities, he will in fact have the final say.

Under the deal, Visit Florida would be funded at 25 million, a third of this years total. Enterprise Florida would survive, with no money for incentives. Governor Rick Scott issued a statement from his trade mission in Argentina sayings “Lawmakers cannot be shortsighted at the expense of Florida families

Budget negotiators could begin going through a complete analysis of the differences as early as tonight. A budget must be on members desks by next Tuesday for an on time adjournment.

State Lawmakers are closer to a deal on gambling than anytime in the last seven years after the House made what both sides are calling a substantial deal. The House would allow voters in counties with dog tracks to decide if the tracks could stop racing dogs but keep operating card rooms. Grey 2k activist Cary Thiel says the move is a big step forward.

Sot: Carey Theil

Grey2K USA

“from the animal welfare perspective, we’re starting to have hope  that we’ll see finally some change. We’re seeing greyhounds dying in Florida every three days at these facilities. This is the beginning of a blueprint to fix that problem.”

The offer also give the Seminole Tribe more games such as baccarat, but if does not open to slots in the eight counties where voters have approved slots referendums. Naples-Ft. Myers Dog Track owner Isadore Havenick says the deal does’t go far enough.

Sot: Isadore Havenick

Naples – Ft. Myers Dog track

Magic Casino

“We had a referendum. We had a referendum in the general election and the residents of Lee County voted, over 63 percent in favor of us being able to offer a new product, and we just hope the legislature listens to the will of the people.”

The offer also included one new permit for gambling in south Florida. The Senate wants two new facilities.