Sunshine State News: Medical Marijuana Campaign Heats Up With May Fundraising

By  //  June 14, 2016

Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana this week sent 100,000 petitions to county elections supervisors, one of the first steps in getting the proposal before voters next year. (Shutterstock image)
The campaign to pass a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana raised a little over $100,000 during the month of May, according to the latest finance reports. (Shutterstock image)

The campaign to pass a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana raised a little over $100,000 during the month of May, according to the latest finance reports.

People United for Medical Marijuana (United For Care), headed by Orlando attorney John Morgan, has been calling for donations for its campaign to pass Amendment 2, which would legalize medical marijuana for patients with ‘debilitating’ medical conditions.

In May, the committee raised $110,000, with none of it coming from Morgan. $50,000 of that sum came from South Florida philanthropist Barbara Stiefel and $5,000 came from from Patrick Morgan.

The amendment is back up for a vote in 2016 after falling two points short of the necessary requirement to become a reality in the Sunshine State in 2014.

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In 2014, United For Care raised $11.5 million, which included $1.9 million in loans mainly from John Morgan’s law firm. The committee spend a significant chunk of that money on petition gathering efforts to get the amendment on the ballot.

Stiefel donated over $1 million to the effort two years ago.

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