Florida’s Amendment 3 has 💰💰💰

FLORIDA
The campaign cash is flowing

What happened: Florida’s legalization ballot initiative broke fundraising records by raising over $40 million, with Smart & Safe Florida leading the fundraising efforts.

The ballot measure needs to meet the required 60% supermajority to pass and to join 16 other states that have legalized recreational marijuana by ballot measure. 

Despite recent polls indicating strong public support, the initiative faces opposition from Florida’s Republican Party and Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who have criticized the measure as too radical.

This initiative is also supported by significant donations from the Trulieve. 

Back up: Florida has tried to legalize four times already, but these attempts failed due to insufficient signatures and court rejections, but the current measure has been approved for the November ballot.

What they’re saying: “I think a lot of investors or analysts will tell you that there's so much money to be made, 'it's the green rush.' A lot of them are not being realistic," Robin Goldstein, Director of the Cannabis Economics Group at UC Davis, said to OpenSecrets. "The more you have the legal market opening up, the more competition you have and also the more technology, scale and efficiency goes into production and people are able to produce it more and more cheaply."

He noted that it is difficult to understand why Trulieve would invest so much money in Florida when it has been challenging for retailers to make money in states where recreational is legal.

Why it matters: Record-breaking financial support for legalization comes in the wake of GOP opposition, particularly from Gov. DeSantis, who recently vetoed a bill banning intoxicating hemp products, partially due to his opposition to the cannabis legalization ballot initiative. 

DeSantis acknowledged that his decision was influenced by the belief that the cannabis industry supported the hemp bill to favor their legalization efforts. While he cited the need to protect small businesses and prevent widespread cannabis use as primary reasons, he also launched the “Florida Freedom Fund” to combat Amendment 3, the legalization initiative. 

When asked about the initiative, DeSantis said, "this is so far beyond just saying you’re not going to criminalize it. This is saying that it’s going to be rampant all across the state. The ‘stench’ of cannabis is ‘everywhere you go—whether it’s New York City, whether it’s San Francisco, whether it’s Denver’ post-legalization. So let’s not do that here."

Desantis cannabis politics are inconsistent at best. His opposition to a regulated cannabis industry begs the question of why he is so supportive of an unregulated hemp industry. Moreover, he is not acting in accordance with the wishes of Floridians, as he himself is less popular than the ballot measure, according to recent polling.

What’s next: The critical moment will come in November when Florida voters will decide on Amendment 3. But the months between now and then will test the popularity of legalization, and the popularity of Governor DeSantis.

-CB

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