Former governor’s position on medical marijuana amendment recalls previous meddling in patient care during Terri Schiavo tragedy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 14, 2014
CONTACT: ACLU of Florida Media Office, media@aclufl.org, (786) 363-2737
MIAMI, FL – Today, in a press release issued by a coalition opposing Florida’s Amendment 2 – a proposal on the 2014 ballot which would allow Florida patients to be prescribed marijuana as a treatment for medical conditions – former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush stated his opposition to the proposed amendment.
In response to the former governor’s involvement in the campaign, ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon stated the following:
“Once again, Jeb Bush is trying to impose his views on medical treatment on Florida patients.
“Amendment 2 is about allowing people suffering from debilitating conditions to access treatment plans that include using marijuana as a medicine, with the supervision of a doctor, to alleviate their pain and suffering.
“Opponents of the amendment seem to hope that the people of Florida will have forgotten Jeb’s history of using government to invade people’s medical choices, such as when he used his power as governor to push aside years of court decisions that determined that Terri Schiavo would not have wanted to be kept alive in a vegetative state. He then attempted to command the machinery of state government to force feed a person who was brain dead.
“The ACLU was part of the legal team that represented Michael Schiavo and successfully opposed the Jeb Bush-led government intervention into Schiavo ‘s treatment.
“Jeb Bush was wrong about limiting patients’ rights then and he is wrong now. You would think that after his shameful performance in the Terri Schiavo tragedy Jeb Bush would be too embarrassed to offer any advice on the rights and well-being of patients. These are medical decisions to be made by doctors about what is best for their patients; it is not a role for politicians.”
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