Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a Republican 2024 presidential candidate, has appointed six new members to his state’s Drug Policy Advisory Council—and it includes an eclectic mix of stakeholders, like a sheriff who campaigned against a medical cannabis ballot initiative that voters approved and another sheriff who supports marijuana decriminalization.
The panel also features yet another sheriff who went viral for warning heroin sellers while wearing a ski mask and a pastor who thinks his fellow Southern Baptists should “take a breath and not make” moderate use of alcohol “an issue.”
The governor appointed six members to the advisory council late last month, as is required under a law that was enacted in 2011. The panel, which falls under the state Department of Health, is responsible for studying substance misuse and drug control and then submitting findings and recommendations to the governor’s office.
This newly appointed group of advisory council members includes three members of local law enforcement, two religious leaders and one mental health advocacy executive. And as activists separately work to put a cannabis legalization initiative on the Florida ballot next year, the new panel members’ past comments and actions around marijuana and other drug-related issues may help
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