ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA – A Florida man was arrested on Saturday in St. Petersburg by police because he was handing out marijuana for free to people who passed by “because it was Christmas,” WFLA reported.
67 year old Richard Ellis Spurrier was giving away marijuana to people in downtown St. Petersburg according to police. Officers found 45 grams of the narcotic in Mr Spurrier’s possession.
A digital weighing scale was also discovered on Spurrier’s person, along with a prescription bottle that had his name on it, and a glass pipe. Police also discovered a sword that was hidden inside Mr Spurrier’s walking cane.
Mr Spurrier is being charged with possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. Richard Ellis Spurrier was released from police custody on Sunday.
There are some Floridians who seem more than happy to share the green substance when they are in possession of the recreational marijuana.
A man in Flagler County, Florida was placed under arrest back in May of 2019 after telling police officers, “You gotta smoke a bowl [of weed] with me please,” CBS Miami previously reported.
Mr Arthur Carracino had flagged down officers before telling them that fateful statement and showed off his marijuana plant to them, and admitted he grew the plant, Mr Carracino was then arrested by police.
Medical marijuana in Florida has been legal since 2016, and there is a resolution being proposed to decriminalize it in the amount of 20 gram or less. Florida legislature is expected to vote on the recreational marijuana resolution in 2020.
However, there are those opposed to the proposal of recreational marijuana in Florida. Floridians Against Marijuana, or FARM made an announcement in November that it intends to prevent marijuana legalization in Florida known as “the Sunshine State.”
“Our coalition has come together to defeat this dangerous ballot initiative, which will drive an increase in health care prices, increase costs on businesses and kill jobs and increase the burden on taxpayers that will pay for the costs associated with recreational marijuana,” Brian Swensen said in a news release, the campaign manager for FARM, Tallahassee.com reported.
Unfortunately Florida Senator Marco Rubio also opposed marijuana legalization during his 2016 campaign when he told rally goers he believed “pot is an insidious as alcohol.”
“No one can tell me that alcohol’s had a positive impact on society. “It destroys marriages and lives. It kills people… and now you want to add another intoxicant and make it legal?” Rubio stated.
“There’s no positive impact to using marijuana,” Rubio mentioned. “Now, if there’s a medicinal use, if you can go to the FDA and prove that it helps with medicine, that’s fine. Then turn it into medicine.”
However, the movement for marijuana legalization in Florida continues to gain momentum from its people, and Floridians need to be heard loud and clear on this issue.
