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Another Florida poll has found majority support for an initiative to legalize marijuana that will appear on the ballot this November. But the results show it falling just short of the steep 60 percent requirement for passage in the state.<\/p>\n
With fewer than 70 days until Election Day, the survey from the firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) signals the measure\u2019s prospects of approval are tight, with 57 percent of registered voters in favor of the proposal, while 34 percent are opposed.<\/p>\n
The survey<\/a> involved interviews with 837 Florida registered voters from August 21-22, with a +\/-3.4 percentage point margin of error.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a separate pair of polls published this month similarly found majority support for the Florida marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>\u2014but just one of the two found there\u2019s enough support to meet the 60 percent threshold for passage under state law.<\/p>\n Another recent survey also signaled that\u00a0Amendment 3 does have enough support to pass<\/a>, with majority support across every demographic surveyed. Overall, 64 percent of voters said they backed the proposal, surpassing the 60 percent threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n One opposition campaign, Vote No On 3, also recently commissioned a poll on the measure that\u00a0similarly found 64 percent of voters in favor of the reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Florida Democratic congresswoman recently said she\u2019s undecided on whether she\u2019ll support the Florida marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>, flagging her concerns with impaired driving. Even so, she does think the cannabis campaign has \u201cvery good\u201d advertising.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a mixed bag of feedback on Amendment 3 from members of Florida\u2019s congressional delegation.<\/p>\n One pro-legalization GOP congressman, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), recently said he intends to vote against it,\u00a0strictly because he feels the reform should be enacted statutorily<\/a>, rather than as a constitutional amendment that would prove more challenging to amend.<\/p>\n On the other hand, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus,\u00a0predicted earlier this year that the measure will pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a top staffer for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the CEO of a top marijuana company\u00a0feuded over the state legalization initiative this month<\/a>, drawing attention to the anti-cannabis governor\u2019s position on allowing home cultivation, which would not be included in the reform measure.<\/p>\n While DeSantis is actively opposing the legalization measure and has not voiced support a home grow option, the staffer said on Tuesday that \u201cAmendment 3 would create a monopoly on recreational\u201d that \u201cdoesn\u2019t allow home growing.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Smart & Safe Florida told Marijuana Moment that single-subject restrictions for ballot measures under the state Constitution meant advocates would\u2019ve risked disqualification if they included provisions to provide a home cultivation options.<\/p>\n Separately, the head of Florida\u2019s correctional department claimed in an op-ed this month that passing the marijuana legalization initiative would actually \u201cincrease\u201d the state\u2019s prison population<\/a>\u2014a paradoxical assertion that\u2019s being promoted by top staff of DeSantis.<\/p>\n Advocates and stakeholders are also awaiting a statement about the legalization measure from former President Donald Trump, a Florida resident who recently indicated\u00a0he disagrees with criminalizing people over cannabis<\/a>\u00a0as more states enact legalization and who said he\u2019d be weighing in on Amendment 3 \u201cfairly soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally and GOP political operative, told Marijuana Moment last week that if the Republican nominee does ultimately endorse the initiative,\u00a0that would \u201cguarantee victory.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, a hedge fund billionaire announced earlier this month that he\u2019s spending $20 million \u201cin support of candidates and to oppose Amendment 3.\u201d Of that, a\u00a0$12 million donation will go directly to the Vote No on 3 campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n Overall, there\u2019s been a mixed bag of supports and opponents of the legalization measure. For example, a\u00a0Florida GOP senator recently endorsed the ballot initiative<\/a>, breaking with the state Republican party that he previously chaired.<\/p>\n The Florida Republican Party\u00a0officially came out against the marijuana initiative in May<\/a>, clearing the way for the governor to raise money to fund an opposition campaign against the measure.<\/p>\n The GOP state senator\u2019s endorsement of the legalization measure came one day after the Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) and the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) both came out against Amendment 3<\/a>. They argued that the reform would cause increases in youth use, impaired driving, illicit operations and tax costs for residents, citing dubious evidence.<\/p>\n Smart & Safer Florida, meanwhile, has earned endorsements from a variety of organizations, officials and lawmakers, including Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan (D), Gadsden Sheriff Morris Young, Service Employees International Union (SEUI) and state Sens. Joe Gruters (R) and Shevrin Jones (D).<\/p>\n Last month, the\u00a0governor also lashed out against Amendment 3<\/a>\u00a0at the Republican National Convention, making hyperbolic claims about what the reform would allow\u2014claims backers say are \u201cabsolutely untrue.\u201d<\/p>\n DeSantis called the proposed constitutional amendment \u201climitless,\u201d arguing that it would establish a right to marijuana that would be more fundamental than First Amendment or Second Amendment protections for free speech and guns, respectively.<\/p>\n Speaking at a recent police event,\u00a0DeSantis falsely claimed that most Colorado voters \u201cregret\u201d approving marijuana legalization<\/a>. In fact, recent polling shows that the reform continues to enjoy strong support there.<\/p>\n Last month, news broke that DeSantis\u2019s so-called \u201cFlorida Freedom Fund\u201d received a $100,000 donation from the cannabis company group POB Ventures in order to help defeat the marijuana and abortion proposals. That amount was\u00a0nearly ten times what the campaign had raised in total at the beginning of July<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an\u00a0exclusive interview with Marijuana Moment<\/a>, the CEO of POB Ventures, Patrick O\u2019Brien, said he\u2019s not against adult-use cannabis legalization in principle\u2014but is instead troubled by the specific language of the ballot initiative because it provides an option, rather than a mandate, for regulators to approve additional licenses.<\/p>\n Suspicions about the motivations behind the contribution to DeSantis\u2019s PAC aren\u2019t likely to dissolve, especially amid reporting from CBS News Miami that unnamed hemp businesses have joined forces to back DeSantis in his fight against the legalization measure, with a pledge to contribute $5 million collectively to the state Republican Party after the governor vetoed the bill that ostensibly would have wiped out the market by\u00a0banning most consumable cannabinoid products<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been previously reported that the governor is hoping to garner\u00a0support for his efforts to defeat the marijuana legalization initiative from the state\u2019s hemp industry<\/a>. DeSantis seemed to concede in June that his veto of a bill to ban most consumable hemp-derived cannabinoids was at least partly because\u00a0he hoped the market would aid in his anti-legalization campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n The DeSantis campaign committee, even with the recent contributions, is still miles behind the legalization campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, in terms of fundraising. The legalization effort has raised over $60 million since launching in late 2022.<\/p>\n DeSantis has been\u00a0railing against the marijuana measure for months<\/a>\u2014most recently arguing that it would protect the right to use cannabis more strongly than the First Amendment protects free speech or the Second Amendment protects gun rights\u2014and again claiming that the reform has been a \u201cfailed experiment\u201d in states such as Colorado.<\/p>\n The governor said that the proposal would allow people to \u201cdo marijuana wherever you want\u2014just smoke it, take it, and it would turn Florida into San Francisco or Chicago or some of these places.\u201d<\/p>\n He also reprised\u00a0one of his chief complaints about the potential impact of legalization<\/a>: smelling cannabis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to keep our streets clean. We cannot have every town smelling like marijuana. We cannot have every hotel smelling\u2014theme parks,\u201d he said, adding that voters don\u2019t really understand the specifics of the legalization proposal and that ballot initiatives are generally \u201cso bogus.\u201d<\/p>\n DeSantis acknowledged that the state Supreme Court has a role in reviewing ballot language for constitutionality, and that a majority of justices determined that the marijuana measure met the legal standard. But while\u00a0he previously correctly predicted the court would approve the initiative<\/a>\u00a0following a challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), he now says the two dissenting justices were \u201ccorrect\u201d in trying to block voters from deciding on the measure.<\/p>\n DeSantis also claimed in June that that if voters approve the marijuana legalization initiative,\u00a0people \u201cwill be able to bring 20 joints to an elementary school\u201d<\/a>\u2014and he again complained about the prevalent odor of cannabis that he says would result from the reform.<\/p>\n Legalization has \u201cnot worked in any single place,\u201d the governor said, and he\u00a0challenged a recent ad from the campaign that promoted<\/a>\u00a0regulating cannabis as an alternative to the status quo of people using untested cannabis from illicit sellers.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, according to a Fox News poll released in June,\u00a0two in three Florida voters support the cannabis initiative<\/a>\u2014with the issue proving more popular than the governor himself. The survey showed majority support for legalization across the political spectrum, too.<\/p>\n The governor has consistently argued that\u00a0the state shouldn\u2019t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program<\/a>\u00a0and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians. The Florida Republican Party also\u00a0formally came out against Amendment 3 in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n Smart & Safe Florida separately announced in March that it was\u00a0working to form a coalition of veterans<\/a>\u00a0to build voter support for the reform, and the campaign\u00a0has since formally launched that initiative<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Here\u2019s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:<\/strong><\/p>\n 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 Economic analysts from the Florida legislature and DeSantis\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. 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 California Senate Passes Bills To Allow Marijuana Sales At State-Run Farmers Markets And Legalize Cannabis Cafes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<\/div>\n Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The post Another Florida Poll Shows Majority Support For Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure\u2014But Short Of Requirement For Passage<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Another Florida poll has found majority support for an initiative to legalize marijuana that will appear on the ballot this November. But the results show it falling just short of the steep 60 percent requirement for passage in the state. With fewer than 70 days until Election Day, the surveyContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":77611,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77610"}],"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=77610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77612,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77610\/revisions\/77612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Another Florida Poll Shows Majority Support For Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure\u2014But Short Of Requirement For Passage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"