When appointing Florida’s new Chief Financial Officer, Governor. Ron DeSantis (R) said that one of the reasons he skipped over another candidate, state Sen. Joe Gruters (R), is because of the lawmaker’s past support of marijuana reform—specifically Amendment 3 on last year’s ballot, which would have legalized cannabis for adults.
The governor stated at a media event held on Wednesday that Gruters’ record was contrary to the promises made to voters.
The chief financial officer seat—an elected position—has been vacant since earlier this year, when former CFO Jimmy Patronis (R) left following his election to U.S. Congress. The voters will choose a CFO in the next year. Until then, DeSantis’s pick for this position, Blaise Igoglia, a state senator (R), will hold it.
Notably, President Donald Trump has already backed Gruters in the Republican primary race for CFO, saying that he “was on the ‘Trump Train’ before it even left the station” and “has done more than anyone to help turn Florida RED.” Gruters served as the Florida GOP Chair from 2019 to 2023.
But DeSantis told reporters at a press event that “if George Washington rose from the dead and came back and tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Will you appoint Joe Gruters CFO?’ My response would be: ‘No, I can’t do that.'”
The governor responded to the question of why he did not choose the senator by saying, “I must go on record.” DeSantis claimed that Gruters, in addition to marijuana use, did not show conservative credence on such issues as immigration, school partisanship, gender ideologies, or gun rights.
Start watching DeSantis at 26:45 in the video.
While DeSantis’s comments on Amendment 3 framed the legalization measure as a partisan issue, the campaign in fact divided Republicans—including DeSantis and Trump.
DeSantis, who aggressively campaigned to oppose legalization and told constituents the measure had been written by marijuana companies with a self-interested goal of cornering the market, argued that it was written in order for them to do so. The president also said that the measure would disrupt Florida culture and turn the state closer to California or Colorado.
The governor also faced allegations of weaponizing state departments to push anti-legalization narratives through various advertisements—prompting one Democratic state senator to sue over what he claimed was an unconstitutional appropriation of tax dollars. A Florida judge later dismissed that lawsuit.
In the end, Amendment 3 did not reach the 60 percent threshold required by state law for it to pass, despite receiving a majority vote statewide. According to a recent poll, Trump’s backing had a minimal impact on the outcome of the election despite predictions from associates such as Roger Stone.
After the legalization amendment narrowly failed last November, some lawmakers—including Ingoglia, the governor’s new CFO appointee—introduced legislation making it harder to put voter-led initiatives on the ballot. Although the sponsors did not explicitly state that the proposals addressed a particular issue, they were often heard during the lead-up to the votes on abortion and marijuana rights measures.
In May, DeSantis signed one of those bills into law last month to impose significant restrictions on the ability to put initiatives on the ballot—a plan that could impair efforts to let voters decide on marijuana legalization in coming years.
Gruters has also promoted marijuana reform measures earlier in the year.
For example, SB 546 allowed medical marijuana patients registered with the state to have up to 2 cannabis plants for home use. SB 552 would add to Florida’s list the conditions for which patients are prescribed opioid drugs. It also called on state regulators to create rules that allow out-of-state medical marijuana patients access to Florida’s program.
In order to get a legalization measure on Florida’s ballot in 2026, the campaign for Amendment 3 is now focusing its efforts to qualify an updated version of that initiative. Data from the Florida Division of Elections revealed earlier this month that the campaign had collected almost 70 percent of signatures required to place the measure on the ballot.
Almost six months after the campaign Smart & Safe Florida first filed the measure, the latest data from the state Division of Elections shows that advocates have gathered 613,214 of the needed 880,062 signatures to secure ballot placement.
The state announced in June that enough money had been collected for the initiative 2026 to warrant a fiscal review and a judicial review.
DeSantis for his part said that in February the new measure is “in big trouble” with state Supreme Court. He predicted the vote will not be allowed to go before voters the following year.
At the time, the Governor said: “More than one perspective exists on marijuana.” It should not be part of our Constitution. You can vote for your legislator if you are strongly against it. “Go back to the candidates you think will deliver your vision on this.”
Smart & Safe Florida is hoping the revised version will succeed in 2026. The campaign—which in the last election cycle received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry stakeholders, principally the multi-state operator Trulieve—incorporated certain changes into the new version that seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.
The law now states specifically that smoking and vaping marijuana is not allowed in public areas.The law states in another section that “the legislature must approve regulations regulating when, where, and how marijuana can be consumed publicly.”
Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. The governor’s reasoning for believing that this version will face a completely different outcome is not clear.
While there’s uncertainty around how the state’s highest court will navigate the measure, a poll released in February showed overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform—with 67 percent of Florida voters backing legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.
However, the results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.
Meanwhile, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.
DeSantis, who signed the bill into law earlier this month, could also revoke state cannabis registrations for some Florida medical marijuana users and caregivers.
DeSantis has approved SB 2514. It is a comprehensive budget bill, which covers cancer, dentistry, and many other issues related to health. It also contains a provision that directs the state Department of Health (DOH) to cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if they’re convicted of—or plead guilty or no contest to—criminal drug charges.