Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing new allegations of weaponizing state agencies with taxpayer-funded ads to support his campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative that voters will decide on at the ballot next month.<\/p>\n
In an ad from the Department of Transportation (DOT), three sheriffs make various claims about the harms of cannabis\u2014including one who suggests that marijuana use is associated with a greater risk of domestic violence, contrary to research on the topic<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we make home visits for domestic violence calls, they\u2019re often associated with marijuana use,\u201d Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.<\/p>\n Duval County Sheriff T.K. Waters said in the PSA, first reported<\/a> by Seeking Rents, that there are \u201ctoo many kids going to the ER because of weed gummies and joints laced with fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n In one of the only statements from the sheriffs that seems directly relevant to DOT, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said \u201cwe see more traffic collisions and fatalities because of driving high.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida Sheriffs Alert: Impaired driving affects more than just you. Marijuana is sending more kids to the E.R., is often tied to domestic abuse, and is causing increased car collisions, fatalities, and insurance rates. Educate your families\u2014protect your kids! pic.twitter.com\/xoJav4DyGn<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 FLORIDA DOT (@MyFDOT) October 17, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n That also ties back into a separate ad from the department that aired<\/a> last month, asserting that \u201cDUI crashes increase in states with legalized marijuana, putting everyone at risk.\u201d A Florida Democratic senator has since sued the state over that PSA, arguing that it unconstitutionally appropriates tax dollars for political purposes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Research on the the relationship between state marijuana laws and rates of impaired driving has been mixed, and even federal reports have said\u00a0the effects of cannabis use on driving are unclear at this point<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, another newly released ad\u2014jointly sponsored ad from the Departments of Health, Education and Children & Families\u2014is targeted at parents, with warnings about the dangers of cannabis use for children, saying it \u201ccan do real damage to the still-developing brains of young people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cProtect your teen\u2019s future and mental health: Make sure they know the risks to marijuana,\u201d the state education department-supported ad says.<\/p>\n None of the PSAs directly address the fact that cannabis legalization is on the ballot, but advocates say the timing\u2014in addition to DeSantis\u2019s personal animus toward Amendment 3\u2014clearly signal that they are attempts to influence voters ahead of Election Day.<\/p>\n On the other side of the marijuana debate, the Safe & Smart Florida campaign behind Amendment 3 has been ramping up its advertising over the past few months, and it\u2019s increasingly leaned into messaging about the bipartisan appeal of the legalization measure.<\/p>\n One of the most recent ads features clips of former President Donald Trump<\/a> endorsing the cannabis reform proposal\u2014with a call for voters to \u201cjoin\u201d him in supporting the measure.<\/p>\n The promotion comes just weeks after Smart & Safe Florida released another ad highlighting the fact that both major party presidential nominees\u2014Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris\u2014as well as their running mates share at least one thing in common:\u00a0They don\u2019t believe in criminalizing people over cannabis<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Florida campaign released\u00a0another ad on Wednesday featuring state Sen. Joe Gruters (R), who\u2019s endorsed the initiative. In that ad, the GOP senator and former chair of the Florida Republican Party said he\u2019s \u201cas MAGA as they come,\u201d referencing his support for Trump.<\/p>\n Grunters and Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) also\u00a0recently teamed up to promote the state marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0in another campaign ad. The bipartisan senators stood side-by-side, 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 Meanwhile, a political committee opposing the legalization measure has received a\u00a0half-million-dollar contribution from an organization that Elon Musk<\/a>\u00a0reportedly used to quietly support Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) before he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race. At the same time, the pro-legalization campaign has officially exceeded $100 million in total contributions.<\/p>\n Also, the main corporate backer of the legalization initiative, the multi-state cannabis operator Trulieve, rerecently filed a defamation suit against the state\u2019s Republican Party, alleging it\u2019s knowingly deceived voters about the proposed constitutional change<\/a>\u00a0known as Amendment 3.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a mix of support and opposition for the Florida legalization amendment on both sides of the partisan spectrum.<\/p>\n For example, the former head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under then-President Bill Clinton\u00a0recently urged Florida voters to reject the marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>, arguing that it would create a \u201cnew addiction-for-profit industry\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a former state agriculture commissioner, recently endorsed Amendment 3. And the chair also\u00a0laid out a framework for regulating cannabis<\/a>\u00a0that she thinks the legislature should enact if voters do approve the reform. That involves automatic expungements for prior marijuana convictions, taking steps to mitigate the risk of monopolization in the industry and directing tax revenue to Black communities and education.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, two congressional Republicans representing Florida also\u00a0recently weighed in on the state\u2019s marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>\u2014with Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) predicting it will fail and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) saying he remains undecided on the measure even after former President Donald Trump came out in support of it.<\/p>\n Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), for his part, has 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 While polling has also\u00a0consistently demonstrated that the ballot measure enjoys majority support<\/a>\u00a0from Democrats and Republicans alike\u2014and despite the fact that Trump has endorsed it as well\u2014Florida\u2019s governor\u00a0has not relented in his crusade to defeat it<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Gruters, the GOP state senator,\u00a0also met with Trump ahead of his endorsement of Amendment 3<\/a>, as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, 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) showed\u00a064 percent of likely voters in Florida are in favor of the legalization proposal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Smart & Safe Florida also\u00a0rolled out another series of new ads last month<\/a>\u2014including one calling out the hypocrisy of criminalizing cannabis while alcohol is legally available and another featuring a county sheriff making the case for ending marijuana prohibition.<\/p>\n Federal Court Upholds Order Requiring Alaska Airlines To Rehire Worker Who Was Fired Over Positive Marijuana Test<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The post DeSantis Stirs Pot Again With More Anti-Marijuana Ads Funded By Taxpayers, Including One Linking Cannabis To Domestic Violence<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing new allegations of weaponizing state agencies with taxpayer-funded ads to support his campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative that voters will decide on at the ballot next month. In an ad from the Department of Transportation (DOT), three sheriffs make various claimsContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"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\/78463"}],"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=78463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78464,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78463\/revisions\/78464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: DeSantis Stirs Pot Again With More Anti-Marijuana Ads Funded By Taxpayers, Including One Linking Cannabis To Domestic Violence<\/a><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"