Rick Scott's popularity is somehow on the upswing, according to a recent poll, despite a series of controversial laws he approved this month.
In addition to speeding up the death penalty, denying workers paid sick leave, and being anti-flowers, Scott signed a bill on June 5, banning bongs -- well, kind of.
The bill makes it "unlawful for a person to knowingly and willfully sell or offer for sale at retail any drug paraphernalia... other than a pipe that is primarily made of briar, meerschaum, clay or corn cob."
That means that starting July 1, Florida head shop proprietors found selling pipes, bongs, and bowls, etc. will be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor; any subsequent violation will result in a third-degree felony charge, in which they lose the right to vote.
But the key wording is "knowingly and willfully," meaning as long as everyone doesn't make illicit drug use reference, sales of pipes, bongs, and bowls can continue in shops that make at least 75 percent of their revenue from tobacco products.
"If you come in referencing illegal substances, then we wouldn't sell it to you," an employee at Hialeah's Headquarters Tobacco & Gift Shop told the Miami New Times. "But that's how we have always operated."
Although the ban will be tricky to enforce, a Criminal Justice Impact Conference determined that a similar bill would have put more heads in beds at state and local prisons.
Meanwhile 70 percent of Floridians support more progressive marijuana laws such as legalizing medical cannabis, although one such bill didn't even get a committee hearing this legislative session.
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