Florida medical marijuana patients receive unexpected email praising DeSantis

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida has more than 700,000 medical marijuana patients, and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis — who is fighting a proposal to allow recreational marijuana use — wants everyone to know what a great job he is doing.

The Department of Health last week sent an explosive email to its list of medical marijuana patients boasting that DeSantis signed the state budget. The email touted a cancer research program promoted by first lady Casey DeSantis, listed health issues such as HIV, hepatitis and syphilis that are in the spending plan, and conveyed a message from Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo that he and DeSantis they are “promoting public health and personal responsibility.” in Florida.”

Nothing in the email mentions medical marijuana, and patients and advocates say the DeSantis administration violated their privacy by using the patient list to promote policies.

“This is revolting. This is truly an abuse of power and information,” said state Rep. Kelly Skidmore, a Democrat on the House Health Policy Committee. “I guarantee you that no one checked the box that said, ‘Yes, it’s okay to send me information about Governor DeSantis’ agenda.'”

The Department of Health said it did not single out medical marijuana patients but rather sent the budget statement to everyone in its email databases, which spokeswoman Weesam Khoury said included more than “2 million members of the public , healthcare professionals, graduates, and media.”

Khoury was asked whether the department has email databases for other patients, such as cancer, COVID-19 or HIV, but did not provide details on whether such databases exist or whether they were also used to promote the governor’s budget. .

“It is unfortunate that the Associated Press decided to write a story about the inconvenience of email instead of covering key investments that will save countless lives,” she said.

Patient advocates say it’s more than just an inconvenience, it’s a violation of privacy — not just because promoting the governor has nothing to do with their health care. Florida has broad public records laws and if someone were to obtain the master email list, they could deduce who is a medical marijuana patient, as it represents about 35% of recipients.

Patients could be subject to unwanted political and marketing messages or worse – employers could see who has a medical marijuana card.

“This was a ‘look how great the governor is and how much he’s done for us at the Department of Health,’” said Jodi James, president of the nonprofit Florida Cannabis Action Network. explosion list by any stretch of the imagination.”

Ironically, DeSantis has been a vocal critic of “Big Tech” and accused private companies of misusing users’ personal information.

It’s shocking that the state would use the patient email list for its political agenda, said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Nikki Fried, a former agriculture commissioner who oversaw the list of concealed weapons license holders.

“I would have been burned alive if I had done anything with that database to disseminate its information to another part of my agency or to use that database to disseminate the rest of the Department of Agriculture’s news or activities,” Fried said. . “It’s irresponsible.”

A medical marijuana patient in Pensacola told the Associated Press that he and others plan to file a formal complaint.

“If it was a doctor who disclosed his patient’s private information for some other purpose, I feel like someone should be held accountable,” said the patient, who did not want his name used to protect his medical privacy.

Personal injury attorney John Morgan, who led the state’s medical marijuana effort in 2016, questioned how the email did not violate federal law restricting the disclosure of medical information. He also said the email list would be a bonanza for people who want to use it for political purposes, including to promote recreational marijuana in November.

“That would be the biggest list they could have for this election,” he said.