STUART, Fla. — People in Stuart are hashing out the possibility of having recreational marijuana on the November ballot.
This is after the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling allowing the state's voters to decide whether to allow companies that grow and sell medical marijuana to sell it to adults over 21 for any reason
"I think marijuana should be free an equal for everybody, you may have to purchase it, but you may have it just as you may have mashed potatoes," Julene Martin-Morganelli, who who was walking around downtown Stuart, said.
The ballot measure also would make possession of marijuana for personal use legal.
"All drugs should be legal, and then I think we'll get rid of all the illegal drug trade and a lot of crime, and I just feel that's really important," Martin-Morganelli said. "I think marijuana can be so beneficial to so many people."
According to the Pew Research Center, there are 24 states that have made recreational marijuana legal, with 14 allowing the drug for medical use only.
"I don’t think it’s really a big problem that it’s recreational, however, I do feel that everywhere I go I smell weed," said Bridget Flanagan, who is from Michigan where recreational marijuana is legal. "I could walk down the street, I could be in my car. It's like everyone is smoking weed around me. No I don't like the smell. That's what I notice the most."
The couple live in Stuart parttime.
The debate has recovery advocates like John Nelson "torn."
“I think there’s great benefits, but I think there’s going to be great disasters," Nelson said. "I mean we just had a DUI death here where the guy was under the influence of pot."
Nelson is the founder of FamiliesRecover.org, who said there are upwards of 400 overdoses a day in the United States.
"How often are you seeing new people coming in to get help?" WPTV reporter Joel Lopez asked.
"Oh we’re flooded," Nelson said.
He said he's in support of medical marijuana but worries making it recreational may be a gateway drug for new users and trigger relapses on the recovery community.
"I've seen the disasters on the streets of any drug use so for me as an advocate and a mentor and a founder of a nonprofit. It would be hard for me to vote for it," Nelson said.
In Florida, medical marijuana dispensaries like Curaleaf have 61 retail locations including Boca Raton, Jensen Beach, Lake Worth, Palm Beach Gardens, Stuart and West Palm Beach.
"How do you find that balance between people that are using it responsibly and somebody that might take it too far?" Lopez asked Curaleaf CEO Matt Darin.
"A lot of it is really educating our consumers about proper dosing about some of the different form factors about various other alternative methods," Darin said. "People are accessing cannabis now as an alternative to alcohol, as an alternative to opioids and other things and I think we’ll expect that to take place in Florida as well.”
Darin said that Florida is poised to potentially be the largest regulated adult use cannabis program in the country based on population, tourism, and setting up regulations.
"You're seeing everybody from elderly patients that are accessing cannabis for pain and for sleep relief to younger patients that are utilizing it for neurological disorders and other medical conditions," said Darin.
According to Darin, there are currently 627 dispensaries open in Florida, with 900,000 patients.
"Florida voters having the ability for adult use cannabis in this November presidential election is really a historic moment and we're hoping voters are going to get out to vote in November," said Darin.
Curaleaf is planning to open an additional 20-25 stores by the anticipated launch in June of 2025.