There are over 1.7 million seriously ill people in Florida. They have the right to safe, affordable, and effective medication. The goal of this committee is to get medical marijuana legal in the state of Florida. We are collecting signatures on a petition to support a constitutional amendment that gives patients the right to grow, obtain, purchase and possess medical marijuana under a doctor's supervision.

We need valid signatures from over 700,000 registered voters and donations exceeding $5 million. The deadline for the 2010 election ballot is February 1, 2010. We are encouraging a letter writing campaign to prompt the legislators to pass a bill giving Floridians these rights in 2009. The signatures we are collecting now are valid for four years. In the event we do not make the 2010 ballot, we will continue collecting signatures to appear on the 2012 ballot.

We are purely a grassroots effort and we utilize the internet for networking an extensive group of supporters. We are on facebook, myspace, meetup, and twitter. We are developing a network of patients, businesses, doctors, and lawyers who will support us.

Volunteers and event booths will be placed at public events to educate, collect signatures, and accept donations. Promotional techniques will include multi-media advertising, printed literature, public event placement, direct marketing and personal networking.

The initiative is designed to:

Provide relief for terminally and seriously ill patients.

Give patients a safe venue to obtain their medicine.

Allow patients to grow a limited supply.

Create a registry to help law enforcement distinguish law abiding citizens.

Decrease state health care costs with an inexpensive medication that provides lasting results.

Lower the crime rate, saving the state millions in prison costs.

Create thousands of new jobs and boost our economy.

Provide a new tax revenue for the state - an estimated $200 million per year.

Maintain restrictions for non-medicinal use.

This is a true account of the life of America's most written about marijuana smuggler. Between the accounts of his smuggling adventures, Robert tells his life story. Life as a member of "The South St. Gang", his years as an actor, a famous pitchman, a successful entrepreneur in America and England, Bull Fighter in Spain, TV producer, smuggling pilot, big game fisherman, and the celebrities and villains he met along the way. The last section of the book deals with his twenty-nine years in federal prisons. From the infamous Super-Max at Marion Illinois to Camp Fed in Florida, he takes the reader on a tour of the federal prison system and introduces him to the convicts.

On May 1, 1979 President Jimmy Carter's Attorney General, Griffin Bell, called a press conference in the nation's capital to announce the arrest and indictment of the Black Tunas. A gang of marijuana smugglers led by Robert Platshorn and his two partners Robby Meinster and Big Gene Myers. Bell called the Tunas the "slickest, most sophisticated pot smugglers of the 70's." He told the gathered reporters that the Tunas used a fleet of aircraft, and five yachts, to smuggle over a half-million pounds of Columbian marijuana into the United States in a six month period. Later, the DEA would claim the Tunas brought in anywhere from one million to three million pounds of high-grade grass and made over three hundred million dollars.

Twenty nine years later, the official DEA website still has a picture of the gold medallion they claim Black Tuna gang members wore as "a talisman and symbol of their membership in this smuggling group." They do not mention that no trace was ever found of the fleet of aircraft, the five yachts, or any fraction of the alleged three hundred million dollars. Now, after twenty-nine years in federal prison, Robert Platshorn, better known as The Black Tuna, breaks his silence and tells the true story of Americas' longest serving marijuana prisoner. From his first toke to his last ton, Platshorn accounts for every pound, every penny, every plane and every yacht, including a few that the government never knew about.

Meet the Black Tunas: Robby, Bobby, Big Gene and Chip's Army. The pilots: Captain Rivers ex CIA, El Gigante former NFL player, Captain Beercan famous soldier of fortune, Reverend Birchinal who could fly anything with wings, and Stealing Steve. The Mariners: Captains Randy, Crunch, Tico, and Elm. Their crews, Barry the Stoner, Marty, and the Outlaws.

The South Street Gang: Robby, Bobby, Cooky Baumholtz, Pretty Boy Levine, Tony Ordile, Alfred and Pedro.

The Colombians: Raul Davila, El Loco, Julio, Chino, Johnny, Roger the Dodger, Louis the Louse and the Colombian Army, Navy, and Secret Police.

The Other Important Characters: Marcy the Yenta, Redd Foxx, Frank Sinatra, Donald Trump, Baron Rothschild, Red Dillon, Sunny Franchise, Joe Louis, The Queen of England, Prince Charles, Lynn Redgrave, Sir John Drage, Sir Donald Duck (for real), Astrid the Jewitch, Baron Von Putlich, The Rolling Stones, Ahmed Boob, Archie Morris the king of the Boardwalk, Celebrity Chef and Master Pitchman Jerry Crowley, Footy, Benny the Bed Shaker, the Mad Swede, Scratch, and the Colombo brothers.