Medical Marijuana Effort Raises $226K

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – A political committee helping spearhead a ballot effort to legalize marijuana in Florida collected $226,734 in contributions in April.

The committee "People United for Medical Marijuana," according to a newly filed campaign-finance report, had raised an overall total of $3.1 million through April while also receiving $1.9 million in loans, though much of that money went to collecting the 683,149 petition signatures needed to get on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Chairman of the group, prominent Orlando trial attorney John Morgan, also played a large role in financing its activities. But Morgan and his law firm did not contribute money during April, according to the report filed Monday.

The largest contributor was New York retiree Henry van Ameringen, who provided $100,000.

The medical-marijuana proposal will appear on the November ballot as Amendment 2.

"The News Service of Florida contributed to this report."