DeSantis admits that marijuana legalization is popular with Florida voters, even though he opposes it

The Republican governor of Florida is conceding that “more people probably agreed” with a marijuana legalization ballot initiative he helped defeat last year than sided with his prohibitionist viewpoint—but he argued that it was the “morally right” choice for him to intervene to prevent the sale of “dangerous stuff” in his state.

In an event held by the Pennsylvania Family Institute Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke of his administration’s efforts to discourage voters from voting for both the cannabis initiative and the reproductive rights measure in the November 2020 elections. Both initiatives were supported by a majority of voters but failed to reach the 60 percent threshold needed to amend state constitutions.

DeSantis stated in the speech that Amendment 3 wouldn’t only have legalized marijuana but would also give it to a person a constitutional “right to possess and smoke cannabis, even in public”, and that it was giving “a number of benefits” to one particular company, which he seemed to be referring at the campaign’s biggest financier Trulieve.

DeSantis: “Somehow, you managed to get people who are willing to spend money in order to bring us California by the backdoor with these initiatives or these amendments.” “The marijuana industry spent $150,000,000 to make this happen. The abortionists spent $130,000,000. So we had to contend with $280 million of spending on very misleading language—and, let’s just be honest, they were pushing issues in which probably more people agreed with them than agreed with me or agreed with us.”

Florida Politics first published the comments of Governor Scott. “I did not do it because I wanted to be popular. I did it for the right reasons. “We were trying to figure out how to navigate all of it.”

DeSantis insisted that the governors do not “have an official role” when it comes to amending legislation. This is despite his raising of money for ads opposed to cannabis. He blamed special interest parties, and the approval by the State Supreme Court of initiative language he called “a mistake.”

“I mean, most people that get elected in my positions like mine, all their advisors say, ‘stay away from this. You have nothing to gain from getting involved. “All you will do is alienate your supporters,” he replied. This may be correct, but this would also be wrong. Morally, it wouldn’t make sense. In a way, I had a choice. As Governor, I had a podium. I had a megaphone. “There were proposals that could be detrimental to my state.”

“In terms of the marijuana, I mean, you can’t function as a state if you smell marijuana everywhere—if these kids are doing it,” DeSantis said. DeSantis said, “This isn’t the same marijuana that was at Woodstock.” “This is really, dangerous stuff. It would have been bad for Florida.”

Start watching DeSantis at 14:05 in the video to hear his comments about marijuana.

“We dug in. “We barnstormed.” We made the case to the people of Florida, and we were the first state not just to defeat an abortion, but also marijuana—and we did it in the same year, in the same election, against $280 million,” he said.

According to several polls, cannabis reform has majority support in Florida. This was evident when a ballot initiative to legalize adult use marijuana on the ballot last year came up for a vote. It ultimately fell short of the steep 60 percent threshold for passage, and part of the opposition came from the Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) and the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA).

Now, advocates are working on a cannabis initiative they want to put on the ballot in Florida 2026. As of this summer, the renewed legalization campaign has collected more than 75 percent of the required signatures to put the marijuana measure before voters next year, according to state officials.

DeSantis stated in February the latest proposal was in “big trouble” at the State Supreme Court and predicted it would be prevented from being put before the voters in the next election.

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.

It now explicitly states, for example, that “smoking or vaping marijuana in public places is prohibited.”Another section states that rules regulating the manner, time and place of public consumption of cannabis would have to be approved by the legislator.

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MEDCAN24 has been tracking the hundreds of bills relating to cannabis, psychedelics or drug policies that have passed through state legislatures as well as Congress in this past year. Patreon members who pledge at least $25/month gain access to interactive maps, charts, and the hearing calendar.

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Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. He doesn’t explain why this version of the campaign would have a different result.

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.

Another recent poll of Florida Republican voters showed just 40 percent of that demographic said they’d vote in favor of the legalization proposal.

In the background of the campaign’s signature development, DeSantis signed a GOP-led bill in June 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 next year.

In Florida, an state senator has recently introduced two bills that will protect the rights of registered medical marijuana users in terms of employment and parenting.