JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s a high-stakes election year for more than one reason.
Voters in Florida will have the opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” to legalize adult-use marijuana in November. If at least 60% of voters approve the measure, it would open the recreational marijuana market to consumers.
Florida would join 24 other states that have legalized recreational weed. At least, that’s the goal of the Smart and Safe Florida campaign.
The campaign is made up of a team of cannabis operators in support of adult-use marijuana legalization including a few from Jacksonville.
Pete Gallagher, the CEO and Co-Founder of Insa, is dedicated to educating voters on why they should vote “yes” on 3.
“[The goal is] to educate people on the benefits of adult-use cannabis and expel some of the myths about adult-use cannabis as well,” he said.
Smart and Safe Florida recently announced they’ve raised $60 million in a continuous effort to raise awareness of the positive impact legalizing recreational marijuana can have on the state of Florida.
Part of that platform includes the argument that legalization will make the streets safer.
“All of the products that are sold in adult-use dispensaries are tested by a third-party lab so there’s no enhancers that you’ll find in black market cannabis sometimes like fentanyl and ketamine,” Gallagher said. “It’s a really safe product that consumers can count on.”
He added that it could generate over $400 million in tax revenue.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has a similar “Freedom Fund” raising money in an effort to kill the constitutional amendment legalizing cannabis. In contrast, they’ve raised close to $130,000.
DeSantis spoke against Amendment 3 on Tuesday at the Florida Sheriff’s Association summer conference in Orlando.
“It is basically an attempt by a Canadian marijuana company to use the Florida constitution to give them the opportunity to have a monopoly on marijuana, which is just not the way policy should be done,” DeSantis said.
The governor has previously pointed to what he calls “corporate protectionism” language in the amendment, which he said is backed by a single company -- Trulieve -- that already does medical marijuana business in Florida. Trulieve is headquartered in Tallahassee but became one of the largest cannabis companies in the world when it acquired a Canadian company in 2021.
If the amendment passes in November, anyone over 21 would be able to legally buy weed.
Specific regulations would need to be ironed out like the tax rate for recreational marijuana, THC content limits and personal possession allowances.
Do you support voting “yes” to legalizing recreational use? Tell us why or why not below.