Matt Gaetz helped set off Florida’s marijuana ‘green rush.’ Some of his friends, allies scored big
Orlando Sentinel 1 hr ago Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel © Red Huber/TNS Patient consultants assist patients at Trulieve s medical marijuana dispensary in Orlando on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.
ORLANDO, Fla. Less than 24 hours before the Florida Legislature passed the state’s first medical marijuana law in May 2014, Matt Gaetz and other members of the state House of Representatives rewrote the bill to limit who would be able to get in on the ground floor of what has since become a billion-dollar business.
A number of Gaetz’s friends and allies managed to squeeze through that narrow door. Among them:
Matt Gaetz helped set off Florida s marijuana green rush Some of his friends, allies scored big
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Matt Gaetz helped launch Florida marijuana green rush Allies scored big
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TALLAHASSEE Ahead of a likely bid to try and unseat Gov. Ron DeSantis, a new spotlight is focused on Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried’s friendship with embattled Rep. Matt Gaetz and their role lobbying for the state’s marijuana industry.
Before running for Agriculture Commission in 2018, Fried was a prominent marijuana lobbyist who helped boost Florida’s nascent marijuana industry. It was a policy issue that created a long-time bipartisan relationship with Gaetz, who has positioned himself as one of the leading pro-pot Republicans in the country a reputation that goes back as far as 2014 when Gaetz, then-state lawmaker, sponsored a measure that legalized low-THC cannabis for medical use under a licensing scheme carried out by state regulators.
By Vivian KaneMay 3rd, 2021, 2:31 pm
The Justice Department’s probe into Matt Gaetz continues to spiral. What began as an investigation into a low-level Florida official’s alleged criminal activity spurred the probe into allegations that Gaetz may have trafficked and paid an underage girl for sex. And now it’s expanded into an inquiry involving possible attempts to exploit the medical marijuana industry for personal gain.
In 2014, Gaetz co-sponsored Florida’s first statewide measure allowing for medical marijuana use. Before we throw him a parade, it should be noted that his bill–which only authorized the use of a high-CBD/low-THC non-smokable marijuana extract for patients with cancer or severe neurological conditions–was presented as a much more restrictive alternative to a ballot measure heading to the polls that same year that would have legalized broader medical marijuana use. A few months after Gaetz’s bill was signed into law, the ballot measure ended up faili