Medical marijuana patients and advocates are upset that the Florida Department of Health emailed its patient registry to praise Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing the state budget. The email went out last week to the state's more than 700,000 medical marijuana patients, as well as doctors, health care providers and the media.
FILE - Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign event at Wally’s bar, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, in Hampton, N.H. Medical marijuana patients and advocates are upset that the Florida Department of Health emailed its patient registry to praise Republican Gov. DeSantis for signing the state budget. FILE - Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo delivers remarks during a bill-signing ceremony in Sanford, Fla., Monday, April 8, 2024.
“That is revolting. That is really such a misuse of power and information,” said state Rep. Kelly Skidmore, the ranking Democrat on the House Health Policy Committee. “I guarantee you nobody checked the box that said, ‘Yes, it’s OK to send me information on Gov. DeSantis’ agenda.
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 obtained the master email list, they could deduce who is a medical marijuana patient, since they make up about 35% of the recipients.
Ironically, DeSantis has been a loud critic of “Big Tech” and has accused private companies of misusing users’ personal information.
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