Legislation filed by Jacksonville Democratic Rep. Angie Nixon would ensure that any of Florida’s 930,000 medical marijuana patients who have minor children won’t have custody or visitation rights threatened.
Nixon says the legislation emerged from discussions with people around the state who were using medical marijuana in part because of the rising cost of health care, only to find that their treatment of choice came with unintended consequences.
“I remember speaking with someone last year and the year before regarding public employees potentially listing their jobs even if they have a medical marijuana card and recently heard about parents getting DCF (the Department of Children and Families) called on them,” Nixon said.
The legislation would make patients immune from legal consequences solely for being patients.
“A court may not deny or otherwise restrict a parent’s custody of a child or the parent’s visitation rights or parenting time with a child based solely on the parent’s status as a qualified patient,” reads the text of HB 1061. “There is no presumption of neglect or child endangerment based solely on the parent’s status as a qualified patient.”
Nixon believes that if “those in leadership won’t look out for working families by providing adequate health insurance, at least easing their pain physically without the possibility of them losing their kids is the least we can do.”
