Does mixing capitalism and marijuana reform turn off swing voters?

The question title of this post is my reaction to this interesting report from Florida headlined “How Florida’s Medical Marijuana Amendment Managed to Plunge South.”  The report by Nancy Smith suggests that the marijuana reform ballot initiative going before Florida voters in three weeks is now on the political ropes. Here is her account for why:

In April, Amendment 2 looked indestructible.  Poll after poll gave it upward of 80 percent in voter approval. Then all of a sudden the cracks began to show.  Numbers dipped slightly.  And by May, anybody who says he couldn’t see the medical marijuana amendment’s steep slide coming wasn’t looking very hard….

And here’s what I think happened.  I think the smooth-sailing pro-constitutional amendment campaign did such a good job of promoting its early popularity, it became a victim of its own success.

Strong Amendment 2 polling numbers plus an end to the struggle in the Florida Legislature to pass the landmark Charlotte’s Web bill launched an entrepreneurial feeding frenzy across the state.  It was like a gold rush.  But it was also a turn-off for conservative voters who felt overwhelmed, who wanted medical marijuana, but not the greed they now identified as an accompaniment.

Sold-out, cannabis-themed business expos and training conventions — particularly the ones in Miami and Orlando — got big media publicity, lit up Twitter and attracted medical marijuana “experts” from other parts of the country.  Law practices and lobbyists carving out a specialty in medical marijuana consulting were even buying billboard ads along South Florida highways.

The first eye-opening event I remember — well-publicized before and after — was staged in mid-April at the Sheraton Hotel in Miami.  Bob Calkin, Los Angeles cannabis hustler, charged wannabe entrepreneurs $299 a pop for a 10-hour crash course on how to make a fortune “dispensing medicine.”  His company, Cannabis Career Institute, headquartered in Calkin’s van, raked in $45,000 for a day’s work.

As I said, none of this escaped the notice of increasingly jittery likely voters.  All told, it’s left a sour taste.  Floridians now are asking, is this amendment more about who can profit from it than it is about who it might be able to help?

“What am I supposed to think?” asks Mandy Stokes, 54.  “I want sick people who can be helped by medical marijuana to have what they need no matter what.  But all these people swarming into the state looking to get rich quick …  I don’t want Florida to be Colorado and end up with recreational marijuana.”…

Retired Tamarac doctor Garrett R. Richardson, a family practitioner, told Sunshine State News, “If I were still practicing, I would have nothing to do with cannabis therapy until the feds decriminalize the plant.  I wouldn’t want lawyers and patients in my face constantly to recommend something I may not think is the best therapy.  No lawyer would be getting rich at my expense, I can tell you that.”

Add to mounting fear the increasing presence of well-financed Vote No on 2. Its slick television ads are all over the state’s larger markets.  And John Morgan’s profanity-laced video hasn’t helped: Morgan, the father of Amendment 2, cocktail in his hand, standing before a group of cheering young people, urging them to vote for marijuana. Negative publicity, to say the least — and didn’t the Vote No on 2 people jump all over it….

All of a sudden, United for Care went from “we’re in!” to “do we still have a chance?” And it’s beginning to lose the battle for money.  A successful TV ad campaign can cost $1 million a week….

This constitutional amendment needs 60 percent approval to pass and become law on Jan. 6. Yet, of the eight polls released since Sept. 1, the average percentage of support is 57.6….

If you’re wondering, the top contributors for the “pro” team, People United for Medical Marijuana, are 1) The John Morgan law firm, $3,535,896; 2) prominent Democratic fundraiser Barbara Stiefel, $605,000; and 3) John Morgan personally, $250,000.

Top contributors for the “con” team, Vote No on 2, are 1) casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, $4 million in two combined chunks; 2) the Carol Jenkins Barnett Family Trust, $540,000; and 3) Republican donor and millionaire Mel Sembler, $100,000….

[T]he same Floridians whose initial motives for embracing medical marijuana were pure and true, are now repulsed by what they see as mob greed — would-be business people flocking to launch ventures in an industry built on disease and suffering. I’m not sure how you overcome that.