JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Safety is one of the primary arguments being made in support of the effort to legalize recreational marijuana this election cycle.
To see how it might work in practice, Action News Jax toured a testing facility currently working to ensure the quality and safety of medical marijuana.
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Liquid nitrogen freezers, high tech computers and testing equipment, not to mention a lot of marijuana products.
That’s what you’ll find at Modern Canna Labs, where thousands of product samples from Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers come for testing each week.
The lab consists of multiple stations, each testing for specific contaminants from pesticides to mold and even things like heavy metal.
“Here on the screen behind you, you’ll see that this track all of our different work orders,” Jini Glaros, Chief Science Officer at Modern Canna Labs, said.
Read: Florida GOP state Sen. pushes back on claims Amendment 3 would prohibit marijuana regulation
Glaros explained testing like this is important for consumer safety, not only to ensure accurate dosing but also because marijuana plants have a tendency to absorb and retain dangerous contaminants.
“Even if a grower or producer is not using it, if they are growing it in a certain way and there is this blowover from a neighboring farm, they could end up getting drift that causes them to have pesticides,” Glaros said.
George Fernandez is CEO of the operation.
He explained the entire process is heavily regulated by the state and special precautions are taken to ensure there is no bias in the testing.
“The fact that we have to literally send two of our couriers in a state-approved vehicle to these facilities to collect samples that are representative and also random samples,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said he expects similar regulations would be imposed by the state if Amendment 3, which would legalize recreational marijuana, is passed by voters.
Read: What’s on Florida’s 2024 ballot?: A complete guide to the six proposed state amendments
“And I do think that we have one of the most robust regulatory frameworks in the whole country with regard to testing,” Fernandez said.
It’s one of the main arguments supporters of Amendment 3 have put forward.
They claim unregulated products currently available on the black market pose a danger to users.
Read: Jacksonville leaders and community split over marijuana legalization ahead of the November election
According to FDLE, 90 percent of those illicit products in Florida are estimated to contain either other illicit drugs or harmful chemicals.
Steve Vancore is with Smart and Safe Florida, the campaign backing Amendment 3.
“We had an incident in Gadsden County a little over two years ago where three people died on the same day from smoking marijuana,” Vancore said, referencing an incident involving fentanyl-laced marijuana.
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But Amendment 3 opponents, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis being the most prominent, have argued recreational marijuana will embolden the black market, and reduce the quality of life in Florida.
“I think this is written so broadly with no limitations that people are going to assert the right to be able to do this regardless of what a private property owner said,” DeSantis said.
Vancore argued the amendment clearly allows the state to impose time, place, and manner restrictions and even allows lawmakers to require product testing like that done at Modern Canna Labs.
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And with polls showing the amendment right around the 60 percent support it needs to pass, he argued lawmakers need to start thinking about proper regulations sooner, rather than later.
“Just like we did with alcohol. You’ll get rid of the bootleggers, you’ll get rid of the moonshiners and you’ll end the death from people dying from things like laced with fentanyl,” Vancore said. “You don’t want them dying from stuff like that and that’s exactly what we would tell lawmakers. Make it safe. Make sure it’s lab tested.”
If it does pass, lawmakers will have the opportunity to implement new regulations in the 2025 legislative session, before the amendment officially takes effect in May.
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