{"id":46586,"date":"2024-06-14T10:54:11","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T14:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=46586"},"modified":"2024-06-14T10:54:19","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T14:54:19","slug":"letter-to-the-editor-its-time-we-better-protect-florida-veterans-lets-pass-amendment-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2024\/06\/14\/letter-to-the-editor-its-time-we-better-protect-florida-veterans-lets-pass-amendment-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the Editor – It\u2019s time we better protect Florida veterans \u2013\u00a0Let\u2019s pass Amendment 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lisa Dunkley,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen my fellow combat veterans return home and do anything they can to offset the lingering effects of service. Pills, self-medication, and self-prescription \u2014 all with the simple goal of self-preservation: to get a good night of sleep, to pick up their kids pain-free, to lead a healthy life.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As a veteran of the Iraq War, I returned home to see those I served alongside turn to unchecked, untested, and unprotected substances to treat pain, visible and hidden. As a public servant, I\u2019ve learned that our veteran community is a microcosm of what happens across our communities, with too many families having fallen victim to the stranglehold of the opioid crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida, we can do better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019m a strong yes on\u00a0Amendment 3\u00a0<\/a>on the\u00a0November ballot. It\u2019s time to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state of Florida. It\u2019s time to give our veterans \u2014 and all Floridians \u2014 the freedom and peace of mind that is already granted to\u00a0over half\u00a0<\/a>of Americans in states across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time we offer a safe alternative to opioids and treatment options, both for our veteran population and so adult Floridians can take part in the liberty of safe-use cannabis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2018yes\u2019 vote for Amendment 3 is a vote to help keep cartel-trafficked marijuana off the streets and to ensure the safe use of safe products. Unchecked and untested, street-level marijuana can be laced with dangerous materials including heavy metals, pesticides, glass, heroin, fentanyl, and other illegal substances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These substances have already claimed too many of our veterans who bravely fought to protect our freedoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Florida is home to one of the highest veteran populations <\/a>in the country. While that\u2019s something to be proud of, it\u2019s only a mark of distinction if we\u2019re doing our due diligence to thank them for protecting our freedoms abroad by ensuring theirs at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\u00a02022<\/a>, Florida was home to the most opioid deaths in of any state in the country. Synthetic and laced marijuana was and remains a contributing cause of opioid-related deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our status quo is not protecting anyone. Not our veterans, not our communities, and not our children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to mention, the easing of restrictions on adult-use marijuana will allow law enforcement to focus on violent crime, not petty possession charges, and allow first responders to focus on emergent opioid drug use, saving even more lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am proud to support Amendment 3, and I will work fiercely on the legislature floor to enact comprehensive implementation regulations, spanning from cultivation to consumption, including preventing people from smoking in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safe use is only possible with smart implementation \u2014 and no, we will not become a \u201cstinky state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Florida will become the state that looks after its veterans, the state that enacts proven policies, and the state that empowers the freedoms our veteran population fought for abroad, preserving them at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I urge voters to vote yes on Amendment 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Dunkley is a military veteran and a member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing District 97.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Dunkley, I\u2019ve seen my fellow combat veterans return home and do anything they can to offset the lingering effects of service. Pills, self-medication, and self-prescription \u2014 all with the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[8803],"class_list":["post-46586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-letters","tag-letter-to-the-editor-its-time-we-better-protect-florida-veterans-lets-pass-amendment-3"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46587,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46586\/revisions\/46587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}