Mary Brandenburg

Mary Brandenburg
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 89th district
In office
2002–2010
Preceded by Irving Slosberg
Succeeded by Jeff Clemens
City Commissioner
For the City of West Palm Beach, Florida
District 3
In office
1998–2002
Personal details
Born May 12, 1949
Rochester, New York
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Pete Brandenburg
Alma mater University of Florida A.A., 1969;
Florida Atlantic University, B.A., 1972, M.B.A., 1980
Religion Catholic

Mary Brandenburg (born May 12, 1949) in Rochester, New York.

Brandenburg was a Representative in the House of Representatives of the U.S. state of Florida. She moved to Florida with her family in 1957, and has lived in her legislative district since her marriage in 1970. She received her AA degree from the University of Florida in 1969, her BA from Florida Atlantic University in 1972, and her MBA from Florida Atlantic University in 1980. She lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband.

Progressive policies

Equality in adoption rights

Florida is one of the few states in the nation that do not allow residents who identify themselves as homosexuals to adopt. Representative Brandenburg has continually pushed for equality in the Sunshine State's adoption laws and has filed legislation to allow gay residents to adopt since 2007. Entering her final term in the Florida House, Brandenburg intends to further pursue this initiative during her last two years in the legislature.

Drug policy

Salvia divinorum

In March 2008 it was reported that Florida state Representative Mary Brandenburg and Senator Evelyn Lynn had proposed bills to make possession of Salvia divinorum a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.[1] Salvia divinorum is a psychoactive herb which can induce strong dissociative effects. It has a long continuing tradition of use as an entheogen by indigenous Mazatec shamans, who use it to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions.[2] Salvia's sale and possession is currently illegal in a number of other American states and some other countries.

Brandenburg's House bill number was HB 1363. Lynn's Senate bill was SB340. There was also SB1612. All bills proposed including Salvia divinorum & Salvinorin A on Florida's Schedule I list of controlled substances. Brandenburg's bill was passed unanimously and became law on July 1, 2008. The bill provides an exception for medical use approved by the FDA.

Opponents of prohibitive Salvia restrictions argue that such reactions are largely due to an inherent prejudice and a particular cultural bias rather than any actual balance of evidence, pointing out inconsistencies in attitudes toward other more toxic and addictive drugs such as alcohol and nicotine.[i][3] While not objecting to some form of regulatory legal control, in particular with regard to the sale to minors or sale of enhanced high-strength extracts, most Salvia proponents otherwise argue against stricter legislation.[ii][4]

Notes

  1. ^ The worldwide number of alcohol-related deaths is calculated at over 2,000 people per day,[5] in the US the number is over 300 deaths per day.[6]
  2. ^ Those advocating consideration of Salvia divinorum's potential for beneficial use in a modern context argue that more could be learned from Mazatec culture, where Salvia is not really associated with notions of drug taking at all and it is rather considered as a spiritual sacrament. In light of this it is argued that Salvia divinorum could be better understood more positively as an entheogen rather than pejoratively as a hallucinogen.[7]

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Political offices
Preceded by
Irving Slosberg		 Florida House of Representatives
District 89
2002–2010 		Succeeded by
Jeff Clemens