Educate. Learn. Talk about Marijuana in Florida. 
Let’s Talk About Marijuana and Addiction
Black Pastors Have Faith in Medical Marijuana Treatment
How To Get a Florida Medical Marijuana ID Card
Let's Talk About Marijuana and Addiction
Is marijuana a gateway drug? The answer may surprise you. Research shows that marijuana use does NOT lead to more dangerous drugs. In fact, some doctors are using medical marijuana to treat people with harmful substance use disorders. Join the next Conversations on Cannabis to learn and talk with Dr. Joseph Rosado, the president and CEO of International Medical Consultants, Inc., about medical cannabis as an exit medication.
Pastors Have Faith
in Medical
Marijuana Treatment
Marijuana has long been a target of condemnation in minority churches. And for good reason: Pastors have seen how the racially biased enforcement of marijuana laws has impacted their communities and congregations. 

But three pastors in Florida reflect a national trend in changing attitudes toward cannabis, particularly its legal use for medicinal purposes. Dr. Erta C. Livingston Jr., Pastor Leo Stoney and Dr. Lonnie Davis Wesley III, all support medical marijuana as a physician-authorized treatment, saying its use is no different than taking any prescribed drug.
Dr. Livingston is the Senior Pastor of the Church of God by Faith #1 in Gainesville and Director of Patient Services for UF Health Jacksonville. Working in hospitals has changed his perspective about the use of medical marijuana to treat people in pain.  

“I see pain every day. I lay hands on them, I do all the spiritual things I need to do, but sometimes the pain continues. So, in a compassionate way, I want to support whatever it takes to relieve pain. If medical marijuana is prescribed by a doctor, you have my support. I’m not going to put you on the altar and send you to hell.”

Added Pastor Stoney of The MaxOut Church in Melbourne: “This is definitely a taboo topic because we are pastors, right? I go back to this. If there's medicine for cancer, there's medicine for COVID now, and there's medicine for everything else, why can't there be a medicine prescribed by a doctor that has been tested and proven to make someone in pain feel better?”

Dr. Wesley of the Greater Little Rock Baptist Church in Pensacola said congregants really shouldn’t concern themselves with a church’s position on medical marijuana. 

“It isn’t the church's business what medicine your doctor has prescribed for your medical care,” he stressed. “Do what you have to do medically to help you have a better quality of life.” 

The pastors all agreed that education about medical marijuana was key to their acceptance of the drug. On the topic of recreational marijuana, all three voiced reservations on legalizing it regardless of whether that’s done by the state or federal government. 

Click here to watch MMERI’s Conversations on Cannabis Virtual Forum featuring Reverend Lonnie Wesley (Greater Little Rock Baptist Church), Pastor Leo Stoney (MaxOut Church), Elder Doctor Erta Livingston (Church of God by Faith #1 in Gainesville) on YouTube. Visit MMERI’s website at http://mmeri.famu.edu. 

For more information on qualifying conditions that can be treated with medical marijuana under Florida law, visit https://knowthefactsmmj.com.  
Cannabis News Roundup
How to Get Medical Marijuana in Florida
Only a qualified physician can recommend medical marijuana in Florida. However, a patient still must get a Medical Marijuana Use Registry Card to obtain the drug from an approved treatment center.
 
find a qualified
physician
Click here to apply for a
Medical Marijuana Use
Registry Card
to find a Medical
Marijuana Treatment
Center near you

What People Are Saying About Marijuana

During each Conversations on Cannabis virtual forum, we ask audience members to share their views or experiences.

“I received my medical marijuana card while on probation after being incarcerated and sentenced to 10 years probation. Each time I went to test for drugs and gave my medical reasons, I no longer had to do a drug test. I am also an advocate for the legalization of the plant homegrown operations in Florida and presently Tallahassee. I pray and hope the religious population does not hold deep seated prejudice towards me and my household because I am doing the right thing by following the law,” W.T. in Tallahassee, FL.

“My father passed away from pancreatic cancer seven years ago. Chemotherapy would wipe my dad out. He couldn’t keep down food or anything to drink. His oncologist prescribed him some THC pills, and that helped him tremendously! My dad was able to eat and drink water again. If it wasn’t for those pills, my dad wouldn’t have made it past his first two weeks of chemo,” C.S. from the United States.
ABOUT MMERI
FAMU’s Medical Marijuana Education and Research Initiative (MMERI) is the only program mandated by the state to engage minority communities and Florida’s diverse populations about marijuana for medical use and the impact of the unlawful use of marijuana.

We are providing credible information in a safe space for you to learn and talk frankly about cannabis in Florida. Learn more at MMERI.FAMU.edu.
Test your knowledge
of marijuana here.
How to get a Florida Medical Marijuana ID Card here.
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