In Miami-Dade County, officers may issue a civil citation for minor pot possession. A Palm Beach County commissioner is pushing for a similar change. (Photo courtesy Fotolia/TNS)

A wave of sanity is sweeping South Florida and it concerns, of all things, marijuana.

Miami-Dade County commissioners, supported by police, got things rolling on June 30 by giving law-enforcement officials the option of issuing $100 citations for possessing small amounts of pot, instead of charging people with a crime.

The city of Miami Beach, and Broward and Monroe counties are considering doing the same.

And Palm Beach County commissioners are looking into it, too.

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f Florida legalizes medical marijuana, it could lead to increased pot use by youths, a Florida International University study suggests.

It's happened in other states that have passed laws allowing marijuana to be used to treat pain, nausea, vomiting and other medical conditions, according to research led by Lisa Stolzenberg, an FIU professor of criminal justice.

During 2010-11, the most recent year in the study, 9.7 percent of high school students reported using pot in states that had legalized medical marijuana, compared to 6.8 percent in states that outlawed it. And the survey showed that pot use among youth in states that legalized it has risen since 2004 and has consistently been higher than in states where it's illegal.

A renewed effort to legalize medical marijuana in Florida received a major boost last month, as the People United for Medical Marijuana political committee raised close to $293,000 in June.

Of that, nearly $233,000 came from the Orlando law firm headed by attorney John Morgan, according to the state Division of Elections. Morgan has been the public image and foremost moneyman of the legal pot initiative.

A political committee leading a renewed effort to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana raised nearly $293,000 in June, with about $233,000 of the money coming from an Orlando law firm headed by prominent trial attorney John Morgan, according to a newly filed report. The committee, People United for Medical Marijuana, is spearheading an effort to pass a medical-marijuana ballot initiative in November 2016, after narrowly failing to pass a similar constitutional amendment in 2014.

Dennis Cathcart is no fan of the full-blown medical marijuana movement in Florida, but he believes his Tropiflora nursery could successfully produce a certain type of cannabis for needy patients.

Six commercial nurseries, including the 40-year-old Tropiflora in southern Manatee County, are vying for state approval to cultivate and sell non-euphoric cannabis in Southwest Florida.

“When we first heard about it, we were pretty much opposed,” Cathcart said. “But then we discovered that the product is a derivative of the cannabis plant, not something that can be smoked or used to get high in any way. We feel like it’s a worthy thing.”

Runners support legal medical marijuana use to ease PTSD

TAMPA, FL (WFLA) – Steps away from MacDill Air Force Base, runners hit the pavement in support of veterans legally being allowed to use medical marijuana to ease PTSD. Organizers boast it’s “Florida’s first-ever Cannabis-centered 5K run/walk.”

The Florida Cannabis Coalition hosted the event at Gasden Park. The organization “promotes the legalization of Cannabis as a medication for multiple debilitating disorders.” Peter Sessa, CEO of the organization, understands people don’t usually correlate running with cannabis.

The official variety of Charlotte’s Web, a strain of marijuana that’s used to help treat seizures in children with epilepsy and patients with severe muscle spasms or cancer, is expected to be grown in St. Johns County if a local nursery is awarded one of a limited number of licenses by the Florida Department of Health.

Loop’s Nursery & Greenhouses has its headquarters off Old Middleburg Road in Jacksonville, but its main production facility is off Race Track Road in St. Johns County.

“And that’s where we’ll be producing Charlotte’s Web,” said David Loop, president of Loops Nursery, which has been around for 66 years.

GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. -

The court battles are over and Florida is now taking the next steps to grow and distribute a form of medical marijuana. Farmers across the state are waiting to see if they'll be selected to grow the plant.

Growers said it will take about a year to grow and cultivate medical marijuana plants.

Hackney Nursery owner George Hackney has never grown marijuana. That could change soon for his Gadsden County farm.

Hackney is one of 28 applicants that applied to grow a low-THC medical marijuana strain known as Charlotte's Web. Experts said it's effective in helping seizure patients.

"We researched it and we talked to parents, we talked to doctors and we found out there is a need," Hackney said.

Twenty-four Florida commercial plant nurseries have applied for state licenses to grow non-euphoric marijuana and process and sell a medicinal oil that can be used to treat epilepsy and several other medical conditions in Florida.

The applicants are spread across five regions and their proposals will be competing to win a single license that the state Department of Health will award each region. There are eight applicants who applied for the license for Central Florida. All five regions drew at least four applicants.