Medical marijuana advocates converge in Florida

By Katie Campbell
@News21

Posted: June 3, 2015

PALM BEACH – Sunlight flooded into the Palm Beach County Convention Center from the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined much of the space in the heart of scenic West Palm Beach, Florida.

On May 22, droves of people headed to the beach or took lunch outside, enjoying the perfect weather.

But about 425 people spent the day inside taking notes at presentations and exchanging stories about their experiences with medical marijuana.

The Ninth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics from May 21 to 23 drew medical marijuana advocates from across Florida and the United States. Patients Out of Time, the nonprofit organization behind the conference, brought in more than 30 speakers to share research and personal anecdotes behind their reasons for supporting the legalization of medical marijuana.

“My efforts are to try to educate people, to try to get doctors to take this seriously and to try to marginalize those doctors that are practicing minimalist medicine,” said Dr. David Bearman, a physician with more than 40 years of experience working in substance abuse treatment and prevention programs. “We have to get people to think rationally about this.”

Conference attendees ranged from a man who has received federally issued marijuana for more than 30 years to a recent college graduate cultivating his own bud on Seminole tribal land.

Advocates Al Byrne and Mary Lynn Mathre founded Patients Out of Time in 1995 with the intention of educating health care professionals on the medicinal uses of marijuana. Nine national conferences later, the organization’s message attracts entrepreneurs and marijuana advocates nationwide.

This was just one of more than a dozen marijuana conferences scheduled for this year, a sign of how big interest in the industry has become.

The states, though, are still divided on the question of legalizing marijuana. They range from Colorado, where both medical and recreational marijuana are legal, to Florida, where voters defeated an amendment legalizing medical use in 2014.

“I think it’s unfortunate that there are sides,” Bearman said. “There should be only one side – the health of humanity.”

Follow Katie Campbell on Twitter at @_KECampbell.