Government Overreach?

Browsing the agenda for August 26th, I came across the item by Commissioner Kinnard that continues the discussion from the last meeting... Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ban.

I went back and watched the meeting from the 12th. The initial discussion was to push them further from schools, but the discussion evolved into having too many in the county.

"My personal belief, in Citrus County, we have enough of those dispensaries to serve those (medical) needs". He later stated: "We want Ms Lyn to bring back how much latitude we do have under the state statute to try and limit the expansion and proliferation of these dispensaries."

Commissioner Finegan chimed in "It sounds like its less about schools and more about having too many..."

There was very little discussion of how close they are to schools or even how their proximity to schools affects school age children. Like literally none, aside from the agenda item mentioning it.

Now it appears it is back, but this time, in the form of a complete ban via LDC amendment.

Let's take a look. Warning.. Lots of data ahead. My statistics professor would be proud.

The Medical Marijuana industry is regulated under Florida Statute 386.986. I linked it if you would like to read it yourself.

There is very strict language to regulate it. Without diving too deep, the law requires certain licensing by physicians, it can only be used for certain ailments, those using it have to have a state issues card, there are regulations on where they can be located and so on. Let's just say, no kid is going to be able to walk in and get it. Sure, it's possible that the location breaks the law and provides it to them, but I would imagine that is very very rare, at least as it is now.

This isn't your corner store where you can use a fake ID and the person behind the counter gives you a pass. This is very much different.

Further, there are a TON of hoops to jump through to open a treatment center. There is a $60k application fee. They have to post a performance bond (of cash payment) to the state in of at least $2m and up to $5m depending on how many patients they have. Also, everyone involved has to undergo a background check. There has to be a security plan in place as part of the application process that shows it limits access. Any location that sells edibles has to hold a permit to operate as a food establishment, which is another set of regulations.

There are also requirements for seed to sale tracking where the state has access to data on every product that is sold from start to finish. They also have to provide financial statements to the state to show that they are running a successful business. I assume that this is to limit potential money laundering operations.

And a lot more things I didn't even mention.

Again, this is not your corner convenience store. Kids are not getting access to marijuana at a dispensary.

So let's talk marijuana.

Regardless of marijuana being a Schedule 1 drug and illegal Federally, we have to remember that it is approved in Florida for medical use. The Federal government has basically said it will allow states to regulate it as they see fit. Florida voters decided to approve it for medical uses.

So in Florida, it is no different than Oxycodone, Morphine, and Codeine, which are also Schedule 1 drugs. Yes, Schedule 1 also includes illicit drugs like Heroin, Methamphetamine and Cocaine (among several others), but those first ones certainly have medical benefits. Why is marijuana any different in that regard?

Look, I am not a user of the product. Never used it in my life, but that is me. Other people are different and have a medical need for it. If it helps them, why the stigma? Why do we view it differently than other medications on the same Schedule?

I do not see anyone pushing to ban pharmacies due to oxycodone addiction. By the way, studies suggest that 7.2% of high school students have abused opioid prescriptions. Are we worried about that 7.2%? Do we ban pharmacies that fill the prescriptions for those?

Overdoses are on the rise among youth and are now the 3rd leading cause of deaths among that age group (source). That number is only rising. Yes, as marijuana is legalized across the nation for recreational use, overdoses are seeing a tremendous rise as well (source).

There was a study from FAU (here) that showed a total of 386 deaths in Florida from 2014-2020 that were a result of cannabis use. However, 258 of those cases were caused by synthetic cannabis... not from a dispensary. That is 66.8% of reported deaths NOT related regulated cannabis.

Further, 28 percent were ages 45-54 and only 9% from ages 8-24. More than 13% had cardiac related conditions. BUT... the study said that 83.93% died from drug intoxications and 14.17% died from vehicle crashes.

Going further, FAU also did another study (here). This study showed a strong correlation between cannabis and the use of other drugs or alcohol which lead to the overdose death. The CDC does not even report a single death using cannabis alone. The problem is largely the combination of drugs and alcohol leading to an overdose or an accident.

But yes, that same studies suggest that 21.7% of high school students admitted to marijuana use. Expanding the age group to 12-20, the reported usage drops to 11.3%, but again, they are not getting it from dispensaries.

However, the reported alcohol use was 29.2% among high schoolers and 14.6% among those 12-20. Add another 13.2% using tobacco and vapes. (source)

Sure, seeing it might pique their interest and there are studies to suggest rates are higher where more dispensaries exist, but that extends to alcohol and tobacco as well. It is not isolated to marijuana.

Looking at raw data, there are around 178k alcohol related deaths in this country every year. It is the third leading cause of preventable deaths each year. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in this country (source) with over 480k people dying every single year in this country, which includes 41k deaths from secondhand smoke. If these rates continue, one in every 13 American youth under the age of 13 will die from smoking related causes.

Alcohol and tobacco are by FAR more deadly every year than all drug related deaths combined.

Side note.. Obesity is the 2nd leading cause of preventable deaths.

Ok back to to marijuana dispensaries and Citrus County.

The Citrus County Chronicle reports 10 dispensaries located in Citrus County. Apparently that is too many according to Kinnard and maybe Finegan. Should government be the ones deciding what is too many of certain businesses? Wouldn't the market dictate that? Government overreach?

And if the answer is yes, government should decide that, then who decides what businesses are limited? I'm a photographer as a full time job. Is government going to say one day that there are too many (there are like 100+ here in Citrus). It would certainly help me, but I would question it as I am this.

What about chiropractors, of which Kinnard is one? I count 14 of them listed on Google Maps.

What about air condition businesses, of which Finegan owns one? I count 19, not including the likes of Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

What about insurance agencies? Commissioner Bays' husband owns one of those. I count 19 of those as well, but may have missed some.

Are we going to limit those because there are too many? Do we think there isn't enough of those? Who determines that? All of those exist in larger numbers than dispensaries, but not too many? Or do we only ban things we don't like or don't understand?

All my economics classes in college suggest that the market will decide what it will and will not support. If they flood the market, there will be too many and not enough customers, so they will fail. Sure, businesses failing are a bad thing, but that happens all the time. Is it the role of government to limit the number of businesses of that type to avoid them failing? Again, who decides that number?

Fun fact. I count 34 fast food restaurants, which doesn't include places like convenient stores and pizza locations (also didn't count places like Chipotle).

According to the state, Citrus County has a total of 645 businesses/locations that have been registered to sell tobacco and/or alcohol. Crystal River has 237, Inverness has 193, Beverly Hills has 91, Lecanto has 85, and Floral City has 39. (source). Some may no longer exist, but that is what is currently registered.

Point is, there are businesses in this county that sell products that are far more harmful to people (and the youth) than marijuana, yet, no talk of banning any of them. Why not?

Tuesday will be interesting. That is for sure. I am hoping we get into the reason why this ban is a good thing... and something beyond "we have too many".