President Donald Trump has thrown his support behind Florida state Sen. Joe Gruters (R)—a vocal proponent of marijuana legalization—to lead the national Republican Party.
In a long social media posting last Thursday, the president publicly endorsed Gruters as chairman of Republican National Committee. He also endorsed Michael Whatley for his campaign for U.S. Senate representing North Carolina.
Trump claimed that Gruters would be an ideal replacement as the leader of the National Party. Gruters was previously the head of the GOP for Florida.
Trump said, “I know someone who is going to do an amazing job as Chairman of the RNC.” Joe Gruters is his name, and I will give him my complete and total endorsement.
Lara Trump served as a RNC cochair.
Trump also recommended Gruters as Florida’s chief finance officer. However, last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Blaise Igoglia, a state senator (R), to take over the position until the next elections.
The Governor was not a fan of Gruters’s campaign for legalizing marijuana through Amendment 3 last year, an industry-backed initiative which would have allowed and regulated adult cannabis in 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, at a last-week press conference, said that Gruters had sided with Trulieve’s mega-weed firm and joined liberal Democrats as they tried to accomplish this. “So the record of Gruters is in direct contradiction to what DeSantis told voters he would do.”
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 a strong opponent of Amendment 3 but Trump supported it. Before endorsing this measure, Trump had met Gruters, and separately with Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers.
“We talked about the policy for a long time.” 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. It was certainly a factor.
However, Gruters also told MEDCAN24 in the past that at that time “a number of people were trying to speak.” [Trump] Legalization isn’t a topic that can be praised.
The state senator stated that “like any major decision, there will be many people who have input.” “But I am grateful to be part of the group where I can offer my opinion and I believe he values this opinion.”
Gruters appear in a cannabis TV campaign.
The man said, “Florida may be the most free state in America. But our marijuana laws still hinder that freedom. Amendment 3 gives adults their freedom back, and Florida the chance to legalize cannabis responsibly. Florida is the only place that has the power to do it right. Vote ‘yes’ on Amendment 3.”
Gruters has also co-sponsored marijuana reform measures earlier in the year.
In SB 546, state-registered marijuana patients could grow two cannabis plants for themselves per household. SB 552 added “conditions for which patients have been prescribed opioid drugs” to Florida’s list. It also called on the regulators to create rules that would allow out-of state medical marijuana users to participate in 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.
The senator compared the cultivation of cannabis at home to winemaking or beer-brewing.
“Florida has a strong freedom culture.” “I believe in freedom,” said he. If you are really interested in doing that, you can do so, but only if you follow the rules and take responsibility.
Gruters revealed also that on Gruters’ birthday, his wife and he decided to have some infused gums while they were vacationing in Las Vegas.
Lawmaker: “All that I will say is 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 a positive impact on cannabis reform.
In the last few years, Republican voters expressed more support in favor of legalization. But GOP leadership has been largely against it.
According to a survey released by an affiliated Republican pollster in April, the majority of Republicans are supportive of many cannabis reforms. This includes rescheduling. Notably, Republicans are even more supportive than the average voter of allowing state governments to legalize pot without federal interference.
Last week, the Republican Party of Florida, who opposed a cannabis legalization initiative on Florida’s ballot in 2024, cheered Trump for his endorsement of Gruters as the leader of the national Republican Party.
The group Gruters posted on Twitter after Trump announced that “as our former chair,” “we know he’s got what it takes” to take the GOP “to new heights.” “He’s proved, tested and ready to be a leader.”
While DeSantis’s comments on Amendment 3 earlier this month 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.”
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.
Terrence Cole was sworn-in as the new administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration last week. Cole had previously expressed concerns over the dangers associated with marijuana, and he has linked it to a higher risk of suicide among young people.
Cole had said at a confirmation in April hearing that reviewing the government’s proposed marijuana rescheduling would be “one my first priorities”. However, it didn’t make Cole’s list of his “strategic priorites” published last week. It listed instead anti-trafficking, Mexican cartels and the supply chain of fentanyl, as well as drug-fueled violent crime, cryptocurrency and the dark web.
The House Appropriations Committee approved last week a bill containing provisions that prevent the Justice Department from redistributing marijuana.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services(HHS), has previously expressed his support of legalizing marijuana and psychedelic therapy. But during his Senate confirmation process in February, he said that he would defer to DEA on marijuana rescheduling in his new role.
The Senate has confirmed Trump’s choice of former Florida Attorney-General Pam Bondi to lead the DOJ. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. She also opposed medical cannabis legalization as the state’s attorney general.
Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.
A newly formed coalition of professional athletes and entertainers, led by retired boxer Mike Tyson, also sent a letter to Trump earlier this month—thanking him for past clemency actions while emphasizing the opportunity he has to best former President Joe Biden by rescheduling marijuana, expanding pardons and freeing up banking services for licensed cannabis businesses.