A new Republican National Committee leader has been elected who is in favor of legalizing cannabis and has spoken about his personal use.
Joe Gruters, a Florida State Senator (R) who advocated for the legalization of cannabis in his state last year was named chairman of RNC during a meeting held on Friday.
In a long social media posting last month, President Donald Trump formally endorsed Gruters’ candidacy for the post. He also supported outgoing RNC chairman Michael Whatley for his campaign for an U.S. Senate Seat representing North Carolina.
Gruters, who won the Friday vote in which he was unopposed said, “Today, isn’t about one individual, but about our mission.”
The midterms will be held in November, and we need to expand our Republican majority both at the House and Senate. Then we will move on to the Presidential Election, which has the highest stakes.
Trump had also recommended Gruters as Florida’s chief finance officer. However, Gov. Ron DeSantis, (R), appointed Blaise Ingoglia to the role of state senator until the election.
Gruters was criticized by the governor for his advocacy of marijuana legalization last year through Amendment 3. This industry-backed measure would have legalized cannabis and regulated it for adults across California.
Ultimately, Amendment 3 failed to reach the necessary 60 percent threshold for passage under state law, though it received a majority of the statewide vote.
DeSantis told a media event that Gruters had sided with Trulieve’s mega-weed firm and joined liberal Democrats as they tried to accomplish this. “So, his record contradicts what we said we would do,” DeSantis added.
DeSantis told reporters at the time 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.'”
DeSantis was an outspoken opponent of Amendment 3 but Trump clearly supported it. Then-candidate Trump held separate meetings with Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Gruters before endorsing Amendment 3.
We discussed policy in detail. Gruters stated last autumn that it was common sense in Florida. “President Trump is certainly trying to make inroads with the younger demographics, where I think a lot of these voters—certainly undecided ones—where this can make a big difference. “I think it played a part.”
MEDCAN24 reported that “there were a number of people who were trying to speak” at that time. [Trump] “It is not a good idea to say anything positive” about the legalization.
State senator: “He’s likely to receive input from many different people on any policy decisions, but I appreciate being in a circle that allowed me to give my opinion. I also think he value it.
Gruters were featured in an advertisement for a cannabis campaign.
The man said, “Florida may be the most free state in America. But our marijuana laws still hinder that freedom.” Amendment 3 will give Florida adults that freedom back and allow them to legally legalize marijuana in a responsible manner. Florida is the one state in the country that has the power to do it right. Vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 3.”
Gruters, in addition to supporting Amendment 3 from last year, also introduced additional marijuana reform legislation earlier this year.
The SB 546 bill would have permitted state-registered patients of medical marijuana to cultivate up to two plants in their home for personal use. SB 552 added “for whom a patient is prescribed opioid drugs” to Florida’s list qualifying conditions for medical marijuana. It also called on the regulators to create rules that would allow out-of state patients access to Florida’s program.
Gruters told a podcast in February that his Republican colleagues “don’t seem to be very interested” to take any action on marijuana.
In an interview with the Senator, he compared cannabis growing at home to winemaking or beer-brewing.
“Florida has a strong freedom culture.” He said, “I am a believer in freedom.” You can go ahead and do the stuff you really want, if it’s in a safe and responsible way.
Gruters said that he and his wife decided to taste some of the infused gummies on their vacation in Las Vegas a few year ago.
Lawmaker: “I thought everyone was looking at us.” “I was very thirsty, and I told my wife, I said, ‘You’ve got to get me back to our hotel room quick!”
Although Trump welcomed many marijuana-legalization opponents into his administration, Gruters’ support to be the leader of the National GOP may have pushed cannabis reform up on Republican Party officials’ priority list.
Despite the fact that more Republican voters than ever have shown support in recent polls for legalization, GOP leadership is still opposed.
In an April survey, a Republican pollster associated with Trump found that the majority of Republicans support a number of cannabis reforms including rescheduling. Notably, Republicans are even more open to allowing the states to legalize pot without federal interference than is typical of voters.
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.
While the president threw his support behind legalization, saying it would be “very good” for the state, DeSantis aggressively campaigned against it, telling constituents that the measure was written by self-interested marijuana companies in an effort to corner the market. DeSantis also repeatedly claimed that legalization would change Florida’s culture by filling its streets with cannabis smoke, and making it more like California, Colorado, or New York.
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.
Ultimately, Amendment 3 failed to reach the necessary 60 percent threshold for passage under state law, though it received a majority of the statewide vote. Trump’s endorsement evidently had little effect, according to a poll released in the wake of the election, despite earlier predictions by associates like Roger Stone that his blessing would “guarantee victory.”