TALLAHASSEE, FL (#WTXLDigital) - Lawmakers gathered for a meeting in Tallahassee Monday to continue writing the financial impact statement that will be read by voters on 2016 for a constitutional amendment that would legalize medical marijuana.
A similar amendment was rejected by voters in the 2014 election, with some lawmakers suggesting that the proposal would need a rewrite to prevent a fear of loopholes.
One item that seems to be influencing lawmakers at the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC) this time around, are numbers from Colorado which detail monthly sales of marijuana sold for medical use in 2014.
According to data prepared by the Florida Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research, Colorado medical marijuana users purchased on average more than $30-million worth of the drug each month.
Based on those numbers, the state of Florida predicts the medical marijuana sales would generate over $84-million a year in sales tax dollars for the state.
The language of the proposed amendment is not set in stone, another meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, but lawmakers seem to have those numbers in the back of their minds as they continue working on their proposal.
