The campaign behind a Florida marijuana legalization ballot initiative has released a new ad highlighting the fact that both major party presidential nominees and their running mates share at least one thing in common: They don’t believe in criminalizing people over cannabis.
The ad—titled “We’re All Saying the Same Thing”—comes days after Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, reaffirmed her support for legalizing marijuana. That followed weeks of silence on the issue after she rose to the top of the ticket.
Smart & Safe Florida took that opportunity to compile a roundup of clips featuring Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D)—as well as former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, and his VP pick Sen. JD Vance (R-OH)—voicing support for reform.
“Amendment 3 isn’t about political parties or red v. blue identities,” Morgan Hill, spokesperson for the campaign, said in a press release. “Supporting the legalization of recreational adult use marijuana is about upholding the principles of individual freedom and liberty that our country was founded upon.”
“Amendment 3 will end the unjust and unneeded arrests of individuals who consume marijuana for personal use, give adults the right to make their own choices, and honor the core values that define the Free State of Florida and our nation,” she said.
While each candidate was shown talking about their belief that the country should stop criminalizing people over cannabis, there are still some nuances to their individual marijuana positions.
Harris and Walz both back legalization. During her time in the Senate, Harris sponsored a bill to end federal cannabis prohibition, for example. And Walz enthusiastically signed a Minnesota bill into law to enact legalization at the state level. However, while he’s supported federal reform during his time in Congress, he recently said he believes it’s a matter that should be left up to states.
Trump, a Florida resident, is the only candidate who has specifically endorsed Amendment 3, but he’s historically taken a states’ rights position on legalization overall. Recently, he also came out in support of federal rescheduling and allowing marijuana industry access to the banking system.
Vance is more firmly on the states’ rights side of the debate. That said, his record also includes a vote against bipartisan banking legislation that passed in committee, and he’s argued that states that have enacted legalization should increase enforcement activities, complained about the smell of cannabis multiple times and suggested that its use can lead to violence.
As Trump considered his options for a vice presidential running mate earlier this year, Vance’s marijuana record—and specifically his opposition to legalization—actually became a key point of interest for researchers vetting him, according to a recently leaked dossier on the senator. The 271-page memo includes Vance’s cannabis stance under a list of “notable vulnerabilities” with moderate voters.
But while all four of the candidates might differ in some respects when it comes to cannabis, Smart & Safe Florida attempted to drive home the message that there’s bipartisan agreement that criminalization isn’t the answer.
And although the presidential tickets are aligned on that basic principle, there’s been a mix of support and opposition on both sides of the partisan spectrum.
For example, the former head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under then-President Bill Clinton recently urged Florida voters to reject the marijuana legalization initiative, arguing that it would create a “new addiction-for-profit industry” in the state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) opposition is well-established. And last week the governor was accused of weaponizing a taxpayer-funded ad from a state agency as part of his campaign to defeat the marijuana measure.
Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a former state agriculture commissioner, recently endorsed Amendment 3. And the chair also laid out a framework for regulating cannabis that she thinks the legislature should enact if voters do approve the reform. That involves automatic expungements for prior marijuana convictions, taking steps to mitigate the risk of monopolization in the industry and directing tax revenue to Black communities and education.
Meanwhile, two congressional Republicans representing Florida also recently weighed in on the state’s marijuana legalization initiative—with Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) predicting it will fail and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) saying he remains undecided on the measure even after former President Donald Trump came out in support of it.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), for his part, has said he intends to vote against it, strictly because he feels the reform should be enacted statutorily, rather than as a constitutional amendment that would prove more challenging to amend.
On the other hand, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, predicted earlier this year that the measure will pass.
A pair of Republican and Democratic Florida senators recently teamed up to promote the state marijuana legalization initiative, making a joint appearance in a new ad for the campaign as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) continues to rally against the measure, claiming it would benefit a corporate “weed cartel.”
Sen. Joe Gruters (R), the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, and Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) stood side-by-side in the ad for Smart & Safe Florida, acknowledging that while they “don’t agree on much—hardly anything” and would be each voting for their respective party’s presidential nominee, they “do agree on this: Amendment 3 is good for Florida.”
While polling has also consistently demonstrated that the ballot measure enjoys majority support from Democrats and Republicans alike—and despite the fact that the 2024 GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, has endorsed it as well—Florida’s governor has not relented in his crusade to defeat it.
Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Gruters, the GOP state senator, also met with Trump ahead of his endorsement of Amendment 3, as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access.
Meanwhile, another recent survey from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which is against the cannabis initiative, found that 59 percent of likely voters in the state back Amendment 3.
A separate poll from the James Madison Institute (JMI) showed 64 percent of likely voters in Florida are in favor of the legalization proposal.
Smart & Safe Florida also rolled out another series of new ads last month—including one calling out the hypocrisy of criminalizing cannabis while alcohol is legally available and another featuring a county sheriff making the case for ending marijuana prohibition.
The post Florida Marijuana Legalization Campaign Releases Ad Highlighting Trump, Harris, Walz And Vance’s Shared Opposition To Criminalization appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
