A push in Florida to legalize recreational marijuana is projected to fall short — in a win for Gov. Ron DeSantis who’s railed against the measure.
Amendment 3 needed a 60% supermajority in order to become law, but it received just shy of 56% support, according to the AP.
The amendment would have made Florida the 25th state in the country to fully legalize marijuana use for all purposes for people 21 years and older. Medicinal marijuana use is already legal in the state.
Most of the measures call for the legalization of recreational weed, and the ability to produce and sell products. AP
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was staunchly against the measure. THOMAS CORDY/THE PALM BEACH POST / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesDeSantis campaigned hard against Amendment 3, decrying it as a movement lobbied by the marijuana business to line their own pockets instead of something intended to expand the rights of voters, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
“It wasn’t immaculately conceived. It was put on the ballot because one big weed company has now spent $100 million trying to pass it,” DeSantis said at an event in late October. “This amendment is written to benefit this one big weed company. It’s not meant to benefit you.”
Follow along with The Post’s coverage of the 2024 election
- Ella Emhoff seemingly loses her mind over stepmom Kamala Harris losing presidency to Trump
- Move over, LA and NYC – with Trump’s re-election, South Florida is now the political, business and celeb capital of the US
- Follow the New York Post’s 2024 Election Live Updates
- Trump’s historic victory leaves 2028 presidential field wide open for both parties
- How Trump got diversity right — and built a GOP coalition for the future
The company he referenced was Trulieve, a Florida-based marijuana company that supplies products to multiple states and is largely responsible for getting Amendment 3 on the ballot.
Marijuana legalization is on the ballot in four states across the country Tuesday NY Post photo compositeDeSantis has accused Trulieve of attempting to “corner the market” in Florida, where medicinal products are already one of the nation’s largest weed markets with a value of more than $2 billion annually.
Amendment 3 was designed to benefit that company and others like it, DeSantis argued, pointing out that it did not allow for Floridians to grow weed themselves.
Trump — who cast his own ballot in Florida Tuesday — characterized Amendment 3 as an inevitability and threw his support behind the measure, while cautioning that legislators should prohibit weed use in public places.
“As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November,” he posted on Truth Social in September. “As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock the medical uses of marijuana to a Schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws, including safe banking for state authorized companies, and supporting states rights to pass marijuana laws, like in Florida, that work so well for their citizens.”
Marijuana legalization was on the ballot Tuesday in other states like Nebraska and North and South Dakota — which have held out on fully legalizing marijuana even as nearly half the country has embraced the once-banned drug.
In Florida, the movement to legalize recreational marijuana was opposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis Tyler Orsburn/News Herald / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesWhile 24 states have fully legalized marijuana for all uses, 20 — like Florida and the Dakotas — have still only partially legalized it with exceptions for medical purposes.
And six states — Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Kansas, and the Carolinas — still have blanket bans on any use.
Nebraska and North Carolina have, however, decriminalized the drug.
Massachusetts, which fully legalized marijuana in 2016, is taking the vote a step further — asking taxpayers whether they want to legalize the recreational use of naturally derived psychedelics.
With Post wires
