Lawmakers Like Oil-Based Marijuana

Emotional pleas to help children who suffer constant seizures helped convince Florida lawmakers Thursday that a strain of marijuana should be legalized. State Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach and chair of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, said he will file a bill to legalize Charlotte’s Web, which studies find are effective in helping children at risk for seizures, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The reaction is surprising, given that Gaetz and other legislators have opposed efforts to legalize medical marijuana in the state, the Miami Herald reports. Charlotte’s Web is an oil form of marijuana with high levels of the chemical compound cannabidiol, but low levels of THC, the chemical that triggers the high most often associated with marijuana.