198. Marijuana legalization in Florida, the devil's in the details | Dr. Jessica Spencer

They devil is in the details, or lack of details when in comes to Amendment 3, Florida's ballot initiative on legalizing marijuana. When California and other states legalized weed without including regulations and consumer protections, babies were poisoned, people were exposed to pesticides and contaminants, high potency products proliferated, emergency visits for cannabis poisoning skyrocketed, and people experience second hand smoke on a regular basis. We hope Florida learns from the mistakes of California.

Dr. Jessica Spencer set the foundation for her work in the field of substance abuse prevention by earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminology from the University of Tampa and working with at risk juvenile and adult populations in the Tampa area.  Spurred on by a desire to contribute more to her field, she subsequently rounded out her education with a master’s degree in substance abuse counseling and education and a doctorate of education in organizational leadership with a focus on substance abuse prevention and treatment. Her dissertation topic was examining strength-based treatment planning with adolescents.

She is a certified prevention and addictions professional with over 24 years in the prevention and treatment field. Dr. Spencer has developed the ability to quickly identify and resolve issues through conventional and unconventional means bringing meaningful growth to agencies, community groups, and coalitions. Over the years, Jessica has served on many mental health and substance abuse prevention community boards.

She served as the face of the Vote No on two campaigns to defeat the proposed constitutional amendments to legalize marijuana for medical purposes during the 2014 and 2016 campaign cycles. She signed on to the No on 3 campaign team this year as director of advocacy to help defeat the amendment because it is a bad plan for Florida.