florida – Page 17 – Hellbound and Down

Florida Senate Passes Bill To Restrict Hemp Products Like Delta-8 THC

For the second year in a row, the Florida Senate has approved new regulations on hemp-derived THC products in Florida, although this time the proposal includes limitations on the industry’s hottest new product, THC-infused beverages.

Polk County Republican Sen. Colleen Burton has led the charge in attempting to place some restrictions on these intoxicating products, which have emerged since the state legalized hemp in 2019. Since then, some states have banned all such products, while others have heavily regulated them.

Burton said that people have asked her why is she trying to regulate an industry that has been established in Florida for years. She said hemp-derived THC products are “causing harm to Floridians.”

“We have retailers in the state of Florida that are selling products that are intoxicating,” she said. “They are selling products that are putting adults and children in the hospital. And, sadly, they are selling products that are causing the deaths of Floridians.”

She alluded to a Jacksonville television station’s website, which reported this week on a Georgia woman who believes her 25-year-old son’s death from heart disease was caused by ingesting Delta-8 gummies. “That young man did not know that what he was ingesting was going to hurt him,” Burton said.

The bill (SB 438) bans all Delta-8 products and limits the amount of Delta-9 hemp-derived products to no more than five milligrams per serving or 50 milligrams per container. It limits the amount of THC in hemp-infused drinks to five milligrams per container. Such drinks could only be sold through a retailer holding a liquor license.

It requires that each final batch of hemp extract must be tested in a certified marijuana testing laboratory before it may be sold in the state, with results verified and signed by two laboratory employees. The lab would determine whether the product meets the definition of hemp and hemp extract.

During a combined Florida House workgroup formed to study the hemp industry earlier in the session, the owner of a Lakeland testing lab that contracted with the Florida Department of Agriculture to test cannabis and hemp products appeared. He testified that his lab tested 50 out of 53 flower hemp samples from different smoke/hemp shops across the state that were over the legal 0.3 percent Delta 9 THC limit, and found contaminants in these products.

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Florida Authorities Bust Massive Global Child Pornography Ring — Over 1M Videos Seized, Including Infants Sexually Assaulted

Florida authorities have obliterated a monstrous international child pornography network, seizing over one million videos and images depicting the sexual abuse of children—including helpless infants.

Eight degenerates, including seven Florida residents and a Turkish kingpin, now face the wrath of the law for their roles in this stomach-churning operation.

The bust, spearheaded by Florida’s Statewide Prosecution and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), uncovered a sophisticated dark web operation with ties to Turkey, where the alleged ringleader, Emre Bozuyuk, laundered money through hacked financial accounts.

But the most damning revelation? Many of the buyers found this filth through TikTok.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a father of three, didn’t mince words at Monday’s press conference, calling the perpetrators “truly evil” and vowing to lock them away where they’ll “never see the sun again.”

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Florida Lawmakers Vote To Exempt Military Veterans From Medical Marijuana Registration Fees

A newly amended Florida bill would allow military veterans to skip the state registration fee for medical marijuana cards and obtain the certifications for free.

The bill, HB 555, was filed in February by Rep. Alex Andrade (R) and originally would have made more significant changes to the state’s existing medical cannabis program, for example allowing home cultivation as well as reciprocity for out-of-state patients. But on Thursday, the House Health Professions and Programs Subcommittee advanced a two-page substitute bill that instead would make only small changes to the program.

First, the measure would change how often patients need to renew their medical marijuana cards, from the current annual process to once every two years.

Second, it would also waive the $75 registration and renewal fees for veterans, specifying that the state “may not charge a fee for the issuance, replacement, or renewal of an identification card for a qualified patient who is a veteran.”

Veterans would need to include their discharge form (DD 214) along with their applications.

“It certainly does help in the medical marijuana space, and it certainly helps veterans,” Rep. Michelle Salzman (R) said at Thursday’s hearing, according to a report by Action News Jax.

Jodi James, with the Florida Cannabis Action Network, told the publication that the group is “really excited about making medicine more available to people on a fixed income, and particularly our veterans.”

Rep. Lavon Bracy Davis (D) told Florida Politics: “I love this bill.”

If HB 555 becomes law, the changes would take effect July 1.

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Bill Banning Geoengineering And Weather Modification Passes Florida Senate

The Florida Senate passed a bill prohibiting geoengineering and weather modification by a vote of 28-9, Thursday. SB-56, dubbed the “chemtrails bill” by the media, prohibits “the injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of a chemical, a chemical compound, a substance, or an apparatus into the atmosphere within the borders of this state for the express purpose of affecting the temperature, weather, climate, or intensity of sunlight.”

The bill also requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to set up a system where residents can report “suspected geoengineering activities” and directs the FDEP to investigate those claims, WFLA reported.

Geoengineering, or climate engineering is defined as “the intentional large-scale alteration of the planetary environment to counteract [alleged] anthropogenic climate change.”

Florida’s bill banning the practice must now be approved in the Florida House, which has its own watered down version.

If a bill passes, Florida would become the second state in the nation to ban geoengineering. Tennessee passed its own bill banning geoengineering and weather modification in 2024.

Over two dozen other states, including Kentucky, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Vermont, West Virginia, Missouri, and Maine have introduced similar legislation in 2024 or 2025, and are pending further action.

The Tennessee law went into effect July 1, 2024. Florida’s legislation is set to take effect on July 1.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Ileana Garcia, said the legislation became necessary after her constituents repeatedly voiced concerns about unknown entities altering the atmosphere in Florida without their consent.

“Many of us senators receive concerns, complaints on a regular basis regarding these condensation trails, aka chemtrails,” Garcia said in a committee hearing last month. “There’s a lot of skepticism.”

“I have a problem with people spraying perfume around me sometimes, don’t you have a problem with people spraying things into the atmosphere that really have no type of empirical data, that you just don’t know who they are or what they’re doing?” Garcia said Thursday.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo expressed support for the Senate Bill on Wednesday.

“Big thanks to Senator Garcia for leading efforts to reduce geoengineering and weather modification activities in our Florida skies,” Ladapo posted on X. “These planes release aluminum, sulfates, and other compounds with unknown and harmful effects on human health. We have to keep fighting to clean up the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat.”

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Florida Officials Say Marijuana Legalization Campaign Committed ‘Multiple Election Law Violations’

Florida officials have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the campaign seeking to place a marijuana legalization initiative on the state’s 2026 ballot, alleging that the group has “committed multiple election law violations.”

The Office of Election Crimes and Security (OECS)—part of Florida’s Department of State—also fined Smart & Safe Florida more than $120,000 for submitting completed petitions more than 30 days after they were signed.

The issue has been referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for a “potential criminal investigation.”

The campaign was behind last year’s Amendment 3 legalization ballot measure, which failed to win the required 60 percent approval to become law, and is now working to qualify a revised constitutional amendment for next year’s ballot.

Among the claimed violations listed in the letter are that Smart & Safe Florida failed to provide the official text of the proposed constitutional amendment to voters when obtaining signatures as well as that it delivered “forged or fraudulent petitions”—such as one “purportedly signed by a Florida voter in February 2025, when, in fact, that voter has been deceased since November of 2024.”

In a statement to Marijuana Moment, a campaign representative said it has confidence in the process and intends to push back on the state’s assertion it violated election law.

“The claims made appear to be a targeted effort to thwart the ability for the people of Florida to express their support of a citizen-driven amendment,” the statement says. “We stand by the process and had legal counsel vet all forms and communications prior to mailing and look forward to challenging the validity of these claims.”

Other violations claimed by OECS assert that the campaign circulated non-approved petition forms “in a manner that has created the opportunity for fraud and has led to dozens of Florida voters completing and submitting multiple…petitions” and that it submitted completed petitions after a state-mandated deadline.

The letter demands “an immediate accounting of any and all petition forms that were obtained in response to one of your mailed packages that you or your agents have turned in” and further mandates that Smart & Safe Florida “immediately cease the mailing, use, or circulation of non-approved petition forms.”

“Initiative efforts must be undertaken in compliance with the law,” the document says. “The issues raised in this letter are serious and could serve to undermine public confidence in the initiative process.”

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Rep. Cory Mills Introduces Legislation to Block Illegal Aliens from Ever Obtaining U.S. Citizenship

Florida Rep. Cory Mills has introduced legislation to block illegal aliens from ever obtaining U.S. citizenship.

The No Citizenship for Alien Invaders Act aims to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to “protect American sovereignty by ensuring that illegal immigrants cannot exploit the U.S. immigration system,” according to Rep. Mills.

If passed, the bill would add the line, “No alien who enters the United States unlawfully shall be eligible for naturalization, notwithstanding any other provision of the immigration laws,” to the end of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

“Under the Biden administration, we saw more than 10 million encounters at our borders, a crisis exacerbated by reckless catch-and-release policies that allowed criminals who broke our laws to remain in the United States,” said Congressman Mills in a press release.

Mills continued, “President Trump has made it clear that anyone that tries to unlawfully undermine, exploit, or bypass our immigration system is a criminal. The No Citizenship for Alien Invaders Act will ensure these criminals will never be granted U.S. citizenship, that privilege will be reserved for those who respect our laws.”

The bill’s cosponsors include Reps. Josh Brecheen, Andy Harris, and Anna Paulina Luna.

Rep. Brecheen said of the bill, “America is a nation of laws, and if we allow those laws to be subverted by illegal aliens who have no constitutional right to be here in the first place, then we will cease to be a nation. The No Citizenship for Alien Invaders Act prevents illegal aliens from being rewarded with citizenship after breaking our laws. It’s time we get back to common sense policies that restore law and order to America.”

Illegal aliens can currently pursue citizenship through various pathways, such as marriage to a U.S. citizen, asylum claims, or special programs like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This bill would eliminate those options.

According to Pew Research, over 22 million illegal aliens are living in the U.S.

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Florida House And Senate Panels Pass Bills To Criminalize Sales Of Psychedelic Mushroom Spores

Agricultural legislation in Florida containing a provision to outlaw psychedelic mushroom spores has proceeded past two more lawmaking panels in the House and Senate.

The proposed ban on spores of mushrooms that create psilocybin or psilocin is part of roughly 150-page companion bills that would make a variety of adjustments to Florida’s agricultural laws, including around agricultural lands, utilities and wildlife management.

With respect to psychedelic mushrooms, both would outlaw transporting, importing, selling or giving away “spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which will contain a controlled substance, including psilocybin or psilocyn, during its lifecycle.”

Violating the proposed law would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying a maximum one year in jail and $1,000 fine.

On Wednesday, the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee passed HB 651, from sponsor Rep. Kaylee Tuck (R), on a 14–4 vote. Prior to the vote, the body adopted an amendment that simplifies the language of the psychedelic spore prohibition but doesn’t meaningfully change it.

Tuck explained to members at the hearing that the change “restructures” the language “to simplify the prohibition without changing the substance of the underlying bill.”

Later in the day, the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government favorably reported SB 700, by Sen. Keith Truenow (R).

While senators didn’t discuss the bill’s spore provision at the hearing, one public commenter, identified as Daniel Freeman, opposed it.

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Was that a UFO above this Florida town Saturday? Shape-shifting object has some wondering

A shape-shifting, slowly turning object hovered high above Green Cove Springs on Saturday afternoon, leaving many to speculate about it.

The morphing, black object was high above just west of U.S. 17 and south of County Road 315, slowly heading south. It made no noise and was at least a few hundred feet off the ground.

At times the shape was like a spacecraft while it also looked like a turtle shell, a ball inside with white outline that almost looked like a mouth and teeth.

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Florida Lawmakers Approve Bills To Outlaw Psychedelic Mushroom Spores

Florida House and Senate panel have approved sweeping agriculture legislation that, among other changes, would explicitly outlaw the distribution of psychedelic mushroom spores and mycelium.

Members of the House Housing, Agriculture and Tourism Subcommittee voted at a hearing Tuesday to advance a bill, HB 651, from sponsor Rep. Kaylee Tuck (R). The nearly 150-page measure would make a variety of adjustments to Florida’s agricultural laws, including around agricultural lands, utilities and wildlife management.

With respect to psychedelics mushrooms, it would make it illegal “to transport, import, sell, offer for sale, furnish, or give away spores or mycelium capable of producing mushrooms or other material which will contain a controlled substance, including psilocybin or psilocyn, during its lifecycle.”

Violating the proposed law would be a first-degree misdemeanor, carrying a maximum of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

A companion bill, SB 700, which contains the same mushroom provisions, has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Keith Truenow (R). It was amended and approved unanimously last week by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Agriculture, Environment and General Government.

Prior to reporting the bill favorably on Tuesday, the House panel adopted a striking amendment that made a number of changes to the underlying bill, though the amendment did not substantively affect the provision dealing with spores and mycelium.

Psilocybin and psilocin are the two leading psychoactive compounds in psychedelic mushrooms. Although spores typically do not contain psilocybin or psilocin themselves, they eventually produce fruiting bodies—mushrooms—that do contain the psychedelic compounds.

Because the spores don’t contain any controlled substances, the federal government deems them legal.

“If the mushroom spores (or any other material) do not contain psilocybin or psilocin (or any other controlled substance or listed chemical), the material is considered not controlled,” Terrence Boos, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Drug and Chemical Evaluation Section chief, said in a memo last year. (Using a similar rationale, Boos has said that marijuana seeds are considered federally legal hemp because they themselves don’t contain THC.)

In Florida, a legislative report for HB 651 similarly notes that “spores do not contain any psilocybin properties themselves and therefore could be considered legal under current law.”

To prevent that, the proposal would clarify as illegal any spores or mycelium that could produce psilocybin or psilocin at any time in their development.

Members of the House panel did not mention the broad agriculture legislation’s psilocybin provisions during Tuesday’s hearing.

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