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A pair of Republican and Democratic Florida senators have teamed up to promote a marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the November ballot, making a joint appearance in a new ad for the campaign as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) continues to rally against the measure, claiming it would benefit a corporate \u201cweed cartel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Joe Gruters (R), the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, and Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) stood side-by-side in the ad for Smart & Safe Florida, acknowledging that while they \u201cdon\u2019t agree on much\u2014hardly anything\u201d and would be each voting for their respective party\u2019s presidential nominee, they \u201cdo agree on this: Amendment 3 is good for Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s right. It legalizes marijuana for adult use, giving freedom to Floridians,\u201d Gruters, who formally endorsed the initiative last month<\/a>, said.<\/p>\n The measure would also provide \u201cjustice for our community,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to remember a time @joegruters<\/a> and I agreed on policy, but we\u2019ve found common ground on Amendment 3. Safety, justice, and economic opportunity\u2014Amendment 3 is the obvious choice. #YesOn3<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/UlscQ5USBL<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Shevrin \u201cShev\u201d Jones (@ShevrinJones) September 11, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The senators also noted that tax revenue from legal cannabis sales would partly go to public education and law enforcement in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cVote \u2018yes\u2019 on Amendment 3,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not about politics. It\u2019s about Florida,\u201d Gruters said.<\/p>\n Who could believe @shevrinjones<\/a> and me working together to finally make us the Free State of Florida! Welcome to the team \u2014 Joe Gruters (@JoeGruters) September 11, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The ad also comes amid another series of endorsements, including from the Young Republicans of Florida and the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus<\/a>\u2014another show of bipartisan unity around the reform.<\/p>\n While polling has also consistently demonstrated that the ballot measure enjoys majority support<\/a> from Democrats and Republicans alike\u2014and despite the fact that the 2024 GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, has endorsed it as well\u2014Florida\u2019s governor has not relented in his crusade to defeat it<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe amendment says that you have basically a big weed cartel of incumbent companies that are allowed to grow it and sell it,\u201d DeSantis said during a press briefing on Tuesday, pointing out that the multi-state operator Trulieve has been the primary donor for the legalization campaign and arguing that the measure was drafted in a way that disproportionately benefits the company.<\/p>\n Watch the governor discuss the cannabis initiative, starting around 36:00 into the video below:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Gruters, the GOP state senator, also met with Trump ahead of his endorsement of Amendment 3<\/a>, as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access.<\/p>\n Last week, Trump said medical marijuana has been \u201cabsolutely amazing\u201d for patients, and that\u00a0the Florida legalization initiative is \u201cgoing to be very good\u201d for the state<\/a>\u00a0after it passes, which he expects to happen.<\/p>\n \u201cYou take a look at the numbers, it\u2019s been very hard to beat it,\u201d Trump said, referencing polling for marijuana legalization ballot measures. \u201cSo I think it\u2019ll generally pass, but you want to do it in a safe way.\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, longtime ally and GOP political operative Roger Stone, who is also a Florida resident and supports the legalization proposal, separately told Marijuana Moment that\u00a0if Trump did ultimately endorse the measure it would \u201cguarantee victory.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, following Trump\u2019s recent announcement of support for the cannabis legalization ballot measure in Florida, the campaign for Harris started working to remind voters that while in office, Trump \u201ctook marijuana reform backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n In a memo from a senior campaign spokesperson,\u00a0the Harris campaign accused Trump of \u201cbrazen flip flops\u201d on cannabis<\/a>. The Democratic campaign says it\u2019s one of the Republican former president\u2019s \u201cseveral bewildering \u2018policy proposals\u2019 that deserve real scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is sponsoring a bill to federally legalize marijuana called the States Reform Act, separately said that while\u00a0she hoped Trump would back the Biden administration\u2019s rescheduling move<\/a>, she also said part of the reason Republicans in Congress have declined to embrace marijuana policy change is because they\u2019re \u201cafraid of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also recently\u00a0went after Harris over her prosecutorial record on marijuana<\/a>, claiming that she put \u201cthousands and thousands of Black people in jail\u201d for cannabis offenses\u2014but the full record of her time in office is more nuanced.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s line of attack, while misleading, was nonetheless notable in the sense that the GOP presidential nominee implied that he disagrees with criminalizing people over marijuana and is moving to leverage the idea that Harris played a role in racially disproportionate mass incarceration.<\/p>\n \u2014 Meanwhile, a Democratic congresswoman who recently said she was\u00a0on the fence about whether she\u2019d vote for the Florida legalization ballot initiative<\/a>\u00a0this November\u00a0has officially given the measure her endorsement<\/a>.<\/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 Separately, another recent survey from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which is against the cannabis initiative, found that\u00a059 percent of likely voters in the state back Amendment 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n A separate poll from the James Madison Institute (JMI) that was released late last month showed\u00a064 percent of likely voters in Florida are in favor of the legalization proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thousands Flock To Tribal Marijuana Store In North Carolina, Where Cannabis Is Otherwise Illegal, For Launch Of Adult-Use Sales<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n The post Florida Democratic And GOP Senators Promote Marijuana Legalization In Joint Ad As DeSantis Claims Ballot Measure Would Benefit A \u2018Weed Cartel\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A pair of Republican and Democratic Florida senators have teamed up to promote a marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the November ballot, making a joint appearance in a new ad for the campaign as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) continues to rally against the measure, claiming it would benefitContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":77765,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77764"}],"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=77764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77766,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77764\/revisions\/77766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Florida Democratic And GOP Senators Promote Marijuana Legalization In Joint Ad As DeSantis Claims Ballot Measure Would Benefit A \u2018Weed Cartel\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"