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Policy

Argument Against Medical Marijuana in Florida: If You Give a Rapist a Pot Cookie…

Jacob Sullum | 8.13.2014 7:47 PM

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No on 2

The campaign against Amendment 2, Florida's medical marijuana initiative, warns that letting patients buy cannabis-infused edibles will lead to date rape. You may wonder: Exactly how would that work? Judging from a new No on 2 ad (right), the date rapist would follow these steps:

1. Get a doctor's recommendation allowing him to obtain marijuana for treatment of a "debilitating medical condition" (defined here).

2. Get a date.

3. Buy a marijuana-infused chocolate-chip cookie from a dispensary.

4. Take the date to a picnic where similar-looking chocolate-chip cookies are being served on a red-and-white checked tablecloth.

5. Slip the pot cookie onto the pile of regular cookies when the date is not looking.

6. Offer the date a cookie.

7. Make sure she takes the right cookie.

8. If she refuses, insist that she eat the cookie; force it down her throat if necessary.

9. Wait a couple of hours.

10. Pounce.

Or something like that. You may be thinking: Wouldn't it be easier to get the date drunk or slip her a sedative? You may also be thinking: Marijuana-infused baked goods have been around for a long time. People even have been known to make their own with marijuana purchased on the black market. Why is it we are only hearing about this pot-cookie date-rape menace now? Possibly because recent polling indicates that 88 percent of Floridians support medical marijuana, and the No on 2 folks are desperate to turn public opinion around by any means necessary. Judging from the overwhelmingly negative reaction on the group's Facebook page, where the ad debuted on Saturday, the scare tactics may be backfiring. 

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NEXT: Another Confrontation Potentially Brewing in Ferguson (UPDATE: Police Fire on Citizens)

Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason. He is the author, most recently, of Beyond Control: Drug Prohibition, Gun Regulation, and the Search for Sensible Alternatives (Prometheus Books).

PolicyWar on DrugsMarijuanaMedical MarijuanaMarijuana Ballot InitiativesFloridaAdvertising
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