Dangerous snails, carnivorous algae? Florida needs marijuana

Giant, vicious snails, hurricanes, and carnivorous algae washing up along vast stretches of coastline are just a few of the more recent problems Florida is facing. Florida is being hit by plague this summer. Perhaps listening to people is a mystical sign.

Florida citizens took part in the ballot for the second time in 2016, voting to approve medical marijuana. Although Gov. Ron DeSantis won the majority in the last election, saying it doesn’t count, in 2016 71% of voters said they wanted medical marijuana. Since the vote, the governor and legislators have hesitated to implement it. Perhaps that is why nature punishes the state with downright strange things.

Florida is a strange place. Given the hashtag #floridaman and the fact that the south of the state is home to pythons that eat alligators, you’d expect it to be a little “different.” But currently there are two (three, so to speak) crazy things that could be considered divine punishment. The first is the Sargassum Belt, a 5,000-mile snake of algae that circles Florida. Sargassum levels in the Caribbean Sea hit a new record this April, with the belt growing to an estimated 13 million tons, according to a bulletin from the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Laboratory. It’s starting to wash up on the Sunshine State’s tourist-heavy shores. Researchers said combined with the Florida sun, it could be a perfect environment for Vibrio bacteria to proliferate, which can cause flesh-eating infections. And that’s not counting the stinking mess that’s spreading through the golden goose of the state economy.

Hurricane season is here and one is already brewing across the Atlantic. According to the Insurance Information Institute, Florida is being hit hard, with property insurance premiums expected to rise by at least 40 percent this year.

Next come slugs, big, ugly 8-inch slugs. It is an invasive species of African giant land snail that can transmit a parasite and cause tremendous damage to agriculture. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services ordered a community to quarantine. The agency said the species is “one of the most noxious snails in the world, eating at least 500 different species of plants” and can reportedly eat plastic, street signs, stucco and other inorganic material. According to reports, their grenades are capable of piercing car tires.

In Florida there were snails (frogs), darkness (hurricanes and hail), and locusts (sargassum). In the original Bilble story, water is left to blood, flies, boils, locusts, and the death of the firstborn. Voters should watch out before the next one comes along.

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A constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana use could be on the ballot in Florida next year. The proposed change has met with support. But The Tallahassee Democrat reported that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody tried to block a recreational marijuana initiative from the 2024 Florida election. Many saw the effort as preparing the attorney general for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign.

Photo by CRYSTALWEED Cannabis via Unsplash

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Perhaps the governor and state governing bodies should just listen to the people and provide the government with what the law has decided and approved.