Opponents of Marijuana Legalization in Florida Paint Bleak Picture of the State’s Future If Amendment Passes

With almost half the country legalizing recreational marijuana and President Biden taking steps to reclassify the drug at the federal level, it seems the resistance to legalization is fading. Or is it? In Florida, there is something else growing: A push is under way to defeat Amendment 3, a ballot measure that would legalize the drug for persons who are 21 years old or older. It reportedly receives the “full support” of the governor of the Sunshine State, Ron DeSantis. Mr. DeSantis has spent years casting himself as a law-and-order governor. Now, according to him, a new initiative threatens to bring with it the wrong element and criminal activity, where not even elementary school-aged children are safe from drugs in their classrooms. The organization Smart & Safe Florida, which is backing Amendment 3 and spending millions of dollars on radio, TV, and streaming ads, is pushing the message that the initiative would benefit the state by establishing a “regulated marijuana market where Floridians no longer need to turn to illicit cartel-trafficked products on the street.”In a May statement, Smart & Safe Florida’s spokeswoman, Morgan Hill, said, “More than half of Americans already enjoy access to safe, regulated marijuana, and we believe Floridians deserve that same freedom.”While advocates of Amendment 3 are casting it as an initiative that would ensure that Floridians can be safe when they light up, its opponents are painting a much darker picture of what the state would look like if the measure reaches the 60 percent threshold needed for it to pass in November. Mr. DeSantis has seized on what he sees as lax language in Amendment 3. He has railed against the measure, stating it provides “no penalties for use or possession, civil, criminal, anything.” Speaking to reporters in June about his Florida Freedom Fund PAC, which is seeking to defeat Amendment 3, the governor said the measure would open the doors for people in the state to “do marijuana wherever you want — just smoke it, take it, and it would turn Florida into San Francisco or Chicago or some of these places.”According to Mr. DeSantis, nowhere would be safe for people to escape the scent: Every theme park, every hotel, and every town would smell of marijuana. Smart & Safe Florida has pushed back on some of the most apocalyptic claims by noting that the measure allows the legislature to set some restrictions. In July, a political committee that opposes the measure, Vote No on 3, was launched with the claim that it has the “full support of the governor.” The committee’s board includes Mr. DeSantis’s chief of staff, James Uthmeier, who will be serving in the position in his personal capacity.Vote No on 3 says the amendment would “make Florida the California of the East.” In a statement, the committee’s spokeswoman, Sarah Bascom, said the amendment would “threaten the health and safety of every community in Florida by allowing drug dealers to run rampant with zero consequences, creating a dangerous explosion in the black market, and forcing families to completely alter their lives to avoid exposure to secondhand smoke.”The committee suggests Amendment 3 would make it possible for Floridians’ children to gain access to marijuana. Mr. DeSantis also claimed the measure would let people “bring 20 joints to an elementary school.” However, he clarified that the “amendment does not say you can do that,” but suggested it is an “open question.” He has also suggested the amendment would provide more robust protections to “possess and smoke pot than the First Amendment” or the Second Amendment and other “core amendments that grew out of the founding of this country.”While the opponents of Amendment 3 try to paint a bleak picture of Florida if the initiative passes, polls have found a majority of the state’s residents support it. Whether it will receive the required 60 percent is uncertain.A Suffolk University/USA Today/WSVN-TV poll conducted between August 7 and August 11 found 63 percent of Florida residents would support the measure, with a majority of Democrats and independents backing it and even 51 percent of Republicans expressing support for it. However, a Florida Atlantic University poll released this month found 56 percent of respondents would support the measure, short of the required 60 percent threshold.

Opponents of Marijuana Legalization in Florida Paint Bleak Picture of the State’s Future If Amendment Passes

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