Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump posted on social media this morning that he supports a Florida ballot measure legalizing recreational marijuana for adults, but said the state legislature must pass a law banning its use in public places.
Trump, a Florida resident, has been hinting for weeks that he will announce his position on Amendment 3, a proposed constitutional amendment to be voted on by Florida voters in November. In a piece posted to Truth Social this morning, Trump said: Wrote:
Florida, like many other states that have already approved it, will legalize adult personal use marijuana under Amendment 3. Whether people like it or not, it has to be done right because it is voted on by the voters. We need to make sure that our state legislature responsibly enacts laws prohibiting the use of marijuana in public places so that we don’t smell like marijuana everywhere we go, as we do in many Democrat-run cities. At the same time, no one should be a criminal in Florida when it is legal in many other states. We shouldn’t have to ruin lives and waste taxpayer money by arresting adults for personal use marijuana, and no one should have to mourn the death of a loved one due to fentanyl-laced marijuana. We will make America safe again!
The third amendment legalizes recreational marijuana, allowing adults 21 and older to possess up to three ounces of marijuana and five grams of concentrated THC.
Only companies already licensed to sell medical marijuana would initially be able to sell recreational marijuana, but Congress could create its own regulatory framework. The measure would not allow home cultivation and would not expunge older marijuana convictions.
Trump’s post doesn’t directly say he would vote for it, but it seems to imply that passage of Amendment 3 is inevitable. But it’s a notable choice for a candidate.
Trump frequently talked about executing drug dealers during the campaign, but as president he has commuted the sentences of some federal drug offenders that he deemed unjust.
Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, was once skeptical of legalization, but she too has softened her stance to accommodate prevailing political winds, making her and Trump unexpected supporters of decriminalization.
Trump’s endorsement also amounts to a thumbs-up in the eye of his former primary opponent, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who opposed the amendment and spent significant time and resources trying to defeat it.
“I’ve been to cities where this is everywhere. It smells and it’s all over the place,” DeSantis said. Said “I don’t want to walk by my store and see this,” he said at a press conference earlier this year. “I don’t want every hotel to smell like shit.”
The Third Amendment campaign is being funded by multistate cannabis companies that operate medical marijuana dispensaries in Florida, which would monopolize the entire recreational market if the amendment passes.
Florida’s cannabis industry, which is closely tied to the Florida Republican Party, Formed an alliance We worked with DeSantis to try to avoid being shut out of the market.
Amendment 3’s passage is by no means guaranteed. Florida’s constitutional amendments require a 60% majority to pass.
Floridians approved a bill legalizing medical marijuana in 2016, with 71 percent supporting the measure.
