An early nod for medical pot   Daniel Dillard, 16, of Pensacola, left, looks at Joshua Walters, 16, of Molino after the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice passed HB843 on Wednesday. Both have Dravet’s syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. The strain of marijuana the subcommittee voted on would help their condition. Published Mar. 6, 2014 One conservative Republican who has suffered from brain cancer talked about the deceit of the federal government in hiding the health benefits of marijuana for his cancer. Another legislator reluctantly met with a South Florida family only to be persuaded to support legalizing the drug. Then there was Rep. Charles Van Zant, the Republican from Palatka who is considered the most conservative in the House. He not only voted with his colleagues on Wednesday to pass the bill to legalize a strain of marijuana for medical purposes, he filed the amendment to raise the amount of psychoactive ingredients allowed by law â to make it more likely the drug will be effective.