”If something is prescribed, that’s up to the doctor, not the judge,” Moore said. In Hillsborough County, public information officer Mike Moore said he doesn’t know of any judge in the 13th Judicial Circuit who has a policy against people using medical marijuana on probation. Judge William Burgess, who also serves in the 6th Circuit, said he can speak about his courtroom only, but that he allows the use of medical marijuana cards and treats them the same as other medication prescribed by doctors. He said that having a medical marijuana card “does not suffice,” nor does documentation from a medical marijuana doctor. He said other judges in the 6th Judicial Circuit were also sometimes denying the use of medical marijuana to people on probation. Thompson said Vaccaro approves medical marijuana use in some cases. And the law gives doctors discretion in whom they administer it to. Florida law does not name anxiety among permissible reasons to get medical marijuana, but does list other health issues such as post-traumatic stress disorder. He said anxiety doesn’t qualify someone to use medical marijuana while on probation. “She didn’t order the defendant to take those drugs,” Thompson wrote in a statement. Jeb Bush after serving as a state prosecutor, said that she thought the woman was too young to use medical marijuana. Three times during the 14-minute exchange, Vaccaro, who was appointed to the bench in 2002 by Gov. (People on probation are typically barred from using drugs or alcohol except for prescriptions.) 12 hearing, Vaccaro ordered a drug test and threatened to arrest the woman without bond if she kept using marijuana.

Judges and legal experts say that the use of medical marijuana is often allowed for people on probation.īut during the Jan. But on this day, for this case, did Vaccaro overstep? Florida’s drug lawsįlorida’s medical marijuana law, passed in 2016, allows a qualified physician to authorize medical marijuana for patients for a variety of physical and mental conditions.

And this exchange is just one example of this privilege. Judges are granted wide latitude to weigh in on pressing societal issues. 12 hearing obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, underscores that seven years after medical marijuana was made legal in Florida, the drug is still met with resistance from the highest perches of the criminal justice system.Įven as more than 800,000 patients across the state have been allowed by doctors to take the drug, Vaccaro rejected the woman’s use of medical marijuana while setting the terms of her probation and suggested a more potent alternative.

Friday the 13th by Justin Gray