{"id":73815,"date":"2024-04-04T09:22:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/desantis-says-florida-voters-will-reject-radical-marijuana-ballot-measure-claiming-it-would-reduce-the-quality-of-life\/"},"modified":"2024-04-06T00:46:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T08:46:23","slug":"desantis-says-florida-voters-will-reject-radical-marijuana-ballot-measure-claiming-it-would-reduce-the-quality-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/04\/04\/desantis-says-florida-voters-will-reject-radical-marijuana-ballot-measure-claiming-it-would-reduce-the-quality-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"DeSantis Says Florida Voters Will Reject \u2018Radical\u2019 Marijuana Ballot Measure, Claiming It Would \u2018Reduce The Quality Of Life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) predicts that voters will reject a marijuana legalization initiative on the ballot in November, calling the proposal \u201cradical\u201d and arguing that it will \u201creduce the quality of life\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n

Just days after the Florida Supreme Court cleared the cannabis measure for the ballot<\/a>, rejecting the state attorney general\u2019s constitutional challenge, the governor addressed the issue at a press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n

DeSantis said the marijuana legalization proposal goes beyond simple decriminalization and is \u201cbasically a license to have it anywhere you want.\u201d He said enactment would mean \u201cthis state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and towns,\u201d which seems to be a particular concern for the governor, who has previously complained about the smell of cannabis in other jurisdictions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will reduce the quality of life,\u201d he said, adding that Florida already has a medical cannabis program that his administration implemented following voter approval of the reform in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we really need to do more with that?\u201d he asked. \u201cDo we want to have more marijuana in our communities? I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll work out well, but it is a very, very broad amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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DeSantis said that voters will recognize that the marijuana measure and a separate constitutional ballot initiative on abortion rights are \u201cvery, very extreme in a number of different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Florida voters over the past, you know, four or five cycles have developed a skepticism on these amendments generally, because they\u2019re always written in ways that are confusing,\u201d he said, as fist reported<\/a> by Florida Politics. \u201cYou don\u2019t necessarily know what the intent is going to be. So I think that there\u2019s a certain segment of voters, they default just vote no on these things because they know that these things cost tens of millions of dollars to get on, so somebody\u2019s paying for that and somebody is going to benefit from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his opposition to the initiative, DeSantis, the former GOP presidential candidate who dropped out of the race in January, previously accurately predicted that the state\u2019s highest court would ultimately allow the measure on November\u2019s ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) successfully petitioned justices to prevent an earlier 2022 legalization initiative from receiving voter consideration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DeSantis also weighed in on another relevant cannabis policy issue earlier this year when, while still a presidential candidate, he said that\u00a0he doesn\u2019t believe the federal gun ban for state-legal marijuana consumers is constitutional<\/a>. Florida\u2019s former agriculture commission, Nikki Fried,\u00a0brought a lawsuit against the Biden administration over the rule<\/a>, though the governor did not get involved.<\/p>\n

Prior to dropping out, DeSantis also said that if elected president, he would\u00a0\u201crespect the decisions that states make\u201d on marijuana legalization<\/a>\u00a0despite his personal view that the reform has a \u201cnegative impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

While DeSantis doubts the cannabis initiative will receive the requisite 60 percent of the vote at the upcoming election, the Smart & Safe Florida campaign behind the measure is optimistic. And they announced on Wednesday that it\u2019s raised an additional $15 million from a variety of major cannabis companies<\/a> as it gears up for an effort to raise awareness about the measure among voters.<\/p>\n

The multi-state operator Trulieve has been the primary financial supporter of the campaign so far, donating<\/a>\u00a0about $40 million as advocates\u00a0worked to collect more than one million signatures to qualify for ballot placement<\/a>. Now it\u2019s being joined by at least six additional marijuana businesses for the last phase of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Those companies are: Verano Holdings, Curaleaf Holdings, AYR Wellness, Cresco Labs, Green Thumb Industries and INSA.<\/p>\n

If approved, the measure would change the state Constitution to allow existing medical cannabis companies in the state like Trulieve to begin selling marijuana to all adults over 21. It contains a provision that would allow\u2014but not require\u2014lawmakers to take steps toward the approval of additional businesses. Home cultivation by consumers would not be allowed under the proposal as drafted.<\/p>\n

Adults 21 and older would be able to purchase and possess up to three ounces of cannabis, only five grams of which could be marijuana concentrate products. The three-page measure also omits equity provisions favored by advocates such as expungements or other relief for people with prior cannabis convictions.<\/p>\n

Separately, economic analysts from the Florida legislature and the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) estimate that the marijuana legalization initiative would\u00a0generate between $195.6 million and $431.3 million<\/a>\u00a0in new sales tax revenue annually if voters enact it. And those figures could increase considerably if lawmakers opted to impose an additional excise tax on cannabis transactions that\u2019s similar to the ones in place in other legalized states.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:<\/strong><\/p>\n