'It's time': After years enforcing weed laws, Sheriff Gordon Smith urges legalizing recreation pot

Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith grabbed attention when he publicly endorsed legalizing marijuana. He went a step further and cut an ad urging voters to pass an amendment decriminalizing pot for adult use.

“No one has arrested more people for marijuana than me,” Smith said in a new Smart & Safe Florida ad, “so when I say it’s time to stop ruining lives over marijuana, it’s time.”

In the 30-second ad, Smith asserts the current system destroys too many people’s lives by bringing consequences for using marijuana. Passing a measure would mean “giving freedoms for adults to use safe, regulated marijuana in their own homes, without the fear of being locked up.”

Smith previously discussed his evolution on marijuana, especially since Florida legalized the use of prescription cannabis for health ailments. He said his brother, a combat veteran, has seen a significant improvement in his day-to-day life since being prescribed medical marijuana.

But he also discussed seeing lives destroyed over marijuana use, something that has changed at a rate faster than statutes have evolved.




https://floridapolitics.com/archives/702592-its-time-gordon-smith-after-years-enforcing-weed-laws-urges-legalizing-recreation-pot/