Florida’s marijuana lobby is facing friction after dumping $40 million into an initiative to legalize recreational cannabis in the Sunshine State.
If approved by 60 percent of voters in the 2024 election, the measure would amend the state constitution and legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and older.
But the initiative faces opposition from a wide variety of objectors, including the state’s attorney general. Ashley Moody says the proposition is worded to mislead voters and enrich one company that already has a “monopolistic stranglehold” on the medical marijuana dispensary business in the state.
And it would authorize existing state-licensed “medical marijuana treatment centers” (MMTC)— already selling to people with a physician’s recommendation to use marijuana—to sell to any adult.
Research has suggested marijuana can help people with glaucoma, nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, pain caused by nerve damage, seizures, and spasticity.
To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “has not approved a marketing application for cannabis for the treatment of any disease or condition,” the agency states on its website.
Yet, dispensaries dot the state, selling “medical marijuana” in a variety of forms to people with proof a doctor has deemed it a need for them.
Leading the initiative to get the question on the ballot on whether to legalize recreational use of marijuana is Smart & Safe Florida. The nonprofit advocates for “the rights of adults to purchase, possess, and use marijuana within reasonable regulations.”
A spokesman for the group and a congressman from Florida say the majority of Floridians have shown they want to be able to use marijuana.
Opponents say widespread use of recreational marijuana could endanger Floridians and could make it harder for people who need medical marijuana to get it.
And the state’s attorney general has urged the state Supreme Court to toss the initiative out because it is “deceptive” and “misleads” in a way that can “influence voters,” and that could entrench “the [initiative] sponsor’s monopolistic stranglehold on the marijuana market to the detriment of Floridians.”
“That is misleading because the amendment would not actually allow anything; all possession of marijuana would remain unlawful under federal law.”
It takes 60 percent of voters casting a “yes” vote to a proposal to amend the state constitution.
Lawmakers in the state legislature can initiate the process. Or a sponsor can launch what’s known as a citizen’s initiative.
Sponsors must collect petitions signed by registered voters equal to 8 percent of the total number of votes cast in Florida during the previous presidential election. The petitions must come from voters spread throughout the state by a specific deadline within each election cycle.
Once the state has approved the petition signatures, the measure’s wording is reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court for approval. If it passes all of those hurdles, a proposed amendment can appear on the statewide ballot.
Historically, it’s the well-funded petition campaigns that soar over the many hurdles in Florida to reach the ballot, state records show.
The campaign led by Smart & Safe Florida to legalize marijuana for recreational use has more funding than most that attempt the process.
The majority of contributions paying for the campaign—just shy of $40 million—came from Trulieve. The Quincy-based MMTC dominates Florida’s medical cannabis industry with 126 dispensaries statewide. That’s almost twice as much as the nearest competitor, Verano, with 70 storefronts.
“Poll after poll shows that a super-majority of Floridians want adults in Florida to enjoy the same freedoms that about half of the rest of the nation’s adults currently enjoy,” Steven Vancore, spokesman for Smart & Safe Florida, told The Epoch Times.
‘Reckless’ Initiative Sows ’Confusion’
But in her brief to the court, Ms. Moody wrote that the proposed ballot question to voters is worded with “political rhetoric.”The proposal voters would see during the November 2024 election was “carefully curated” in its wording to be “subtle” and “likely to influence voters,” she wrote.
She said it will sow “confusion,” and she fully blames Trulieve for that.
“In its pursuit of a larger customer base and greater profits, Trulieve has invited millions of Floridians to join it in reckless violation of federal criminal law.”
Trulieve did not respond to a request for comment.
The sponsor of the initiative insists that people know that marijuana use is illegal, Ms. Moody argued in her brief.
“And the sponsor fails to acknowledge its own, and the press’s, responsibility for sowing public misperception about that very fact.”
“If anything, most reasonable voters would not assume that a national corporation like Trulieve would openly and notoriously violate federal criminal law,” she wrote.
“Trulieve may be reckless enough to stake an entire business model on the whims of federal prosecutors ... but it cannot invite Florida voters to permanently amend their governing charter by promising that the amendment will do something [allow recreational marijuana] that it will not do.”
Further, the proposal suggests that it would authorize current MMTCs to sell recreational marijuana immediately. But it fails to explain how “other state-licensed entities” would gain similar approval from the state legislature, Ms. Moody argued.
“The ballot summary falsely declares that the amendment itself would ‘allow’ non-MMTC” sellers “to deal in recreational marijuana, when in fact it would not,” Ms. Moody wrote.
The initiative, she wrote, “is backed by an MMTC that already has a license and on day one will be able to sell recreational marijuana with no further steps required.
“And it advances that self-interest by concealing from voters that the amendment would expose them to federal criminal liability, would not enhance competition, and would leave recreational marijuana unregulated [and thus unsafe].
‘Road Map’ to Marijuana Use
Smart & Safe Florida disagrees with Ms. Moody’s stance.“The Smart & Safe ballot measure takes a very strict and conservative approach and not only followed the court’s road-map established in prior rulings but clearly limits the language to a single easy-to-understand subject,” Mr. Vancore said.
“As such, we hope the court will stick to the current standards laid out in law and will give Floridians the chance to vote on this ballot item.”
The 5-2 ruling charged the measure with misleading “voters into believing that the recreational use of marijuana in Florida will be free of any repercussions, criminal or otherwise.”
The failed 2021 campaign was sponsored by Sensible Florida.
Some Floridians are wary of recreational marijuana in their state.
Dr. Tony Ruffa, a family medicine and addiction specialist who lives part of the year in West Palm Beach, sees increasing THC levels in cannabis products.
THC, short for tetrahydrocannabinol, is the chemical compound in marijuana that has strong “psychoactive effects,” causing users to “get high.”
Dr. Ruffa has lobbied in Florida and in Pennsylvania, his other home state, to curtail efforts to legalize marijuana. He says legalizing it is a tactic that’s “dumbing down the masses.”
Because of those effects, Ruffa dreads the social implications of widespread marijuana use.
The average marijuana cigarette—known as a joint—usually holds about .5 grams of marijuana, according to the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. Three ounces—the proposed limit in the ballot initiative—is equivalent to 85 grams.
The average purchaser of marijuana uses 1.35 grams per day, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health.
The statement came after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill legalizing recreational marijuana in his state on May 30.
High Potential for Economy Growth
Supporters point to the economic boon often associated with the legalization of marijuana.States that legalize recreational cannabis have seen increased tax revenues, job creation, and business opportunities. Some experts project the cannabis market will reach $100 billion by 2030, driving more support for legalization initiatives.
Still, even some cannabis advocates have concerns with the recreational-use initiative.
Aaron Bloom is an attorney and the CEO of DocMJ, the largest cannabis doctor group in Florida. He agrees with Ms. Moody that Smart & Safe Florida’s initiative is unclear about regulations on current and future MMTCs.
Out of the 22 state-licensed MMTCs in Florida, Trulieve is the only company providing financial backing for the campaign, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
“The medical patients are funding this,“ Mr. Bloom told The Epoch Times. ”Trulieve has spent $40 million to push this where it is—all that money came from medical patients.”
Bloom’s primary concern is protecting those patients, he said.
Many of his organization’s physicians recommend low-THC, high-CBD products because of their therapeutic results and proven success, he said. CBD is short for cannabidiol, an active ingredient derived from the hemp plant.
Proponents say it doesn’t cause a high and isn’t addictive, but may have medicinal benefits.
Because of this combination of components, CBD formulations—composed differently than marijuana associated with illicit use—offer anti-inflammatory, anti-nausea, and pain-alleviating effects with minimal psychoactivity, Mr. Bloom said.
He recommends tinctures because they’re fast-acting, easy to dose in very small amounts, and allow users to avoid carcinogens associated with smoking cannabis.
If Florida’s MMTCs quit producing enough CBD for medical use, and focus more on selling to recreational users, Mr. Bloom worries it could force patients into the unregulated market. Inventory shortages are likely, as well, he said.
He envisions scenarios like this: “One of my 85-year-old patients who goes once a week to the dispensary—because that’s all they can afford—goes to buy their pain medication at the dispensary [and] there’s a line of 50 college students who want to get high for spring break,” Bloom said. “I need there to be provisions [for medical patients] to skip the line.”
Smart & Safe Florida is confident the state’s booming cannabis market can meet a demand increase, Vancore said.
But other states that legalized recreational use of marijuana have struggled to keep up.
When Illinois legalized it in 2020, supply shortages lasted for months. Like Florida, Illinois adopted a “vertically-integrated medical cannabis system” where licenses were expensive, difficult to obtain, and required seed-to-sale operations. That means the marijuana businesses must grow, process, and sell their products to their customers.
States like Michigan, however, operate differently, allowing marijuana businesses to be cultivators or retailers. That allows for more companies to enter the industry.
While Smart & Safe Florida’s initiative does not prohibit or block granting new licenses to sell marijuana beyond the state’s current MMTCs, there’s no timeline given in the proposal for license approval for other retailers.
Floridians could be stuck waiting months or years for the market to stabilize as cannabis prices climb and supply dwindles. That’s what happened in Illinois.
“Floridians overwhelmingly support cannabis reform, as evidenced by their votes on the subject,” Mr. Gaetz told The Epoch Times.
He was referencing the ballot initiative that legalized medical marijuana in 2016. The measure passed with 71.32 percent voter approval.
“I guess I’d tell those who oppose the ballot measures that passed that this is how our system of government works,” Mr. Gaetz said.
Smart & Safe Florida was tasked with collecting at least 891,589 signatures of registered voters to have the proposed constitutional amendment considered for the ballot in 2024. That’s the same election that will decide the next president of the United States.
