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Multiple marijuana companies donated a total of nearly $15 million to a Florida campaign behind a legalization initiative<\/a> that will appear on the state\u2019s ballot this November, including several multi-state operators, the latest state filings show.<\/p>\n The Florida Division of Elections (DOE) released the campaign finance activity report from the first quarter of the year on Thursday, showing $14,875,000 in new contributions from a range of businesses ahead of the state Supreme Court ruling that officially cleared the cannabis measure for the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trulieve, the main financial backer of the initiative, led the pack again with $9.225 million in donations during the first quarter. That follows the company previously contributing\u00a0about $40 million as advocates\u00a0worked to collect more than one million signatures to qualify for ballot placement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The campaign Smart & Safe Florida announced last week that it had secured the new funding from donors \u201ccommitted to helping ensure victory this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a breakdown of who donated to support the legalization measure in the first quarter of 2024:<\/strong><\/p>\n Two other individuals also contributed<\/a> $21.10 and $1.53 in the most recent quarter.<\/p>\n If Florida voters approve a marijuana legalization initiative at the ballot, that could actually \u201cimprove quality of life\u201d for residents<\/a>\u2014in contrast with the governor\u2019s recent comments to the contrary\u2014the CEO of Trulieve said this week.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sky has not fallen\u201d with Florida\u2019s implementation of medical cannabis legalization under an earlier initiative, \u201cand folks see that choice is a good thing,\u201d Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers said during an interview on The Dales Report\u2019s \u201cTrade To Black\u201d podcast on Monday.<\/p>\n Will Floridians ultimately pass the measure with\u00a0at least 60 percent of the vote as is required for constitutional amendments<\/a>\u00a0in the state? Rivers says, \u201cHell yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments about quality-of-life implications of cannabis legalization follow Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019s (R)\u00a0prediction that voters will reject the marijuana initiative this November<\/a>. He called the proposal \u201cradical\u201d and argued that it will \u201creduce the quality of life\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n DeSantis, for his part, said last week that enactment of the reform 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\u00a0complained 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 Rivers said that \u201cDeSantis has been consistent for a long time around his comments around the smell and around, you know, not necessarily being excited about having marijuana everywhere. I think there\u2019s some additional education that needs to happen there, which we\u2019ve been working on.\u201d<\/p>\n As drafted, the measure if approved 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 the governor\u2019s office 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 \u2014 Here\u2019s the full text of the ballot title and summary:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAllows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise; allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, and other state licensed entities, to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories. Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. Establishes possession limits for personal use. Allows consistent legislation. Defines terms. Provides effective date.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Florida Chamber of Commerce released a poll in January showing that a marijuana legalization initiative that may appear on the November ballot enjoys majority support from likely voters\u2014but not quite enough to meet the state\u2019s steep 60 percent threshold for passage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other previous polls have found that\u00a0voters are well-positioned to pass the legalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0with more than enough support. For example, the University of North Florida put out a survey in December that showed 67 percent of voters back the proposal.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, there\u2019s significant interest in how\u00a0former President Donald Trump, a Florida resident, will vote on the cannabis initiative<\/a>, and whether he will publicly support or oppose it.<\/p>\n Also, a Florida bill that sought to\u00a0cap THC potency if voters approved the legalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0at the ballot died this session, much to the relief of cannabis advocates and stakeholders.<\/p>\n Legislation to\u00a0restrict consumable hemp products and ban delta-8 THC<\/a>\u00a0was approved by lawmakers and awaits DeSantis\u2019s action.<\/p>\n Separately, a House subcommittee recently advanced a medical marijuana bill that would\u00a0waive patient registration and renewal fees<\/a>\u00a0for service-disabled military veterans.<\/p>\n Despite his opposition to the initiative, DeSantis, the former GOP presidential candidate who dropped out of the race in January, previously accurately\u00a0predicted 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\u00a0prevent 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 last week that they\u2019ve\u00a0raised an additional $15 million from a variety of major cannabis companies<\/a>\u00a0as it gears up for an effort to raise awareness about the measure among voters.<\/p>\n New Hampshire House Passes Bill To Legalize Marijuana Through \u2018Agency Store\u2019 Model That Senators Oppose<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n The post These Marijuana Companies Are Funding Florida\u2019s Legalization Ballot Campaign, New Records Show<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Multiple marijuana companies donated a total of nearly $15 million to a Florida campaign behind a legalization initiative that will appear on the state\u2019s ballot this November, including several multi-state operators, the latest state filings show. The Florida Division of Elections (DOE) released the campaign finance activity report from theContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":74103,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74104,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74102\/revisions\/74104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: These Marijuana Companies Are Funding Florida\u2019s Legalization Ballot Campaign, New Records Show<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"