Tampa Bay Young Republicans Executive Director Lacey Wickline interviews personal injury lawyer John Morgan about his campaign to legalize medical marijuana during the group’s monthly meeting in Tampa, Fla., in this March 25, 2014, file photo.ORLANDO, Fla. – The worst day of John Morgan’s life was when his brother snapped his neck diving into a Walt Disney World lagoon while working as a lifeguard. It left him a quadriplegic.
That day also set Morgan, the man behind Florida’s medical marijuana ballot initiative, on a course that would make him a wealthy and locally famous personal injury lawyer.
Morgan, then an undergraduate student, watched as Disney’s lawyers successfully fought his brother at every turn. When the case eventually boiled down to a worker’s compensation claim, even then the big corporation beat the little guy. Instead of settling, Disney said Tim Morgan could still work as a resort telephone operator on the graveyard shift.
“It was like, ‘We’ve crushed you.’ I was so frustrated. I knew what I was going to do,” Morgan said – he would get revenge against those who hurt his brother and those like them. “And I’ve never done anything else.”
That’s not quite true. Since then he’s also wielded a lot of political influence; started an investment firm with retired NBA star Grant Hill; opened a crime museum in Washington, D.C., with “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh; built a string of science-themed attractions called Wonderworks; and spent $4 million to get the medical marijuana proposal on the November ballot – an issue also inspired by his brother Tim, who smokes pot to help control muscle spasms he still suffers from his diving injury.