Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is acknowledging that “more people probably agreed” with last year’s marijuana legalization initiative than with his opposition to it—but insists he was “morally right” to intervene and prevent what he called the spread of “dangerous stuff” in his state.
Speaking Saturday at an event hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, DeSantis reflected on his administration’s campaign against two 2024 Florida ballot measures—one to legalize adult-use cannabis and another expanding reproductive rights. Both initiatives received majority support but ultimately failed to meet the state’s 60 percent threshold required to amend the constitution.
“The marijuana people spent $150 million on this. The abortion people spent $130 million,” DeSantis said, referring to the Smart and Safe Florida campaign and its backers, including cannabis company Trulieve. “They were pushing issues in which probably more people agreed with them than agreed with me. I didn’t do it to be popular—I did it because it was the right thing to do.”
The governor argued that the marijuana amendment would have effectively turned Florida into “California through the back door,” granting excessive benefits to industry players while allowing widespread cannabis use. “You can’t function as a state if you smell marijuana everywhere—if these kids are doing it,” he said. “This isn’t the marijuana they had in Woodstock. This is really dangerous stuff.”
Despite acknowledging that governors “don’t have a role” in ballot amendments, DeSantis said he used his platform to warn voters about what he described as misleading initiatives. “Most people in my position would stay away from it,” he said. “But that wouldn’t be the morally right thing to do.”
While the 2024 measure failed with just under 60 percent support, reform advocates are already regrouping for 2026. The renewed campaign, again backed by Trulieve, has collected most of the required signatures and revised its language to explicitly ban public smoking or vaping of marijuana.
DeSantis, meanwhile, predicts the new version is “in big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court. Still, recent polls show about two-thirds of Floridians—including a majority of Republicans—now support legalization.
Read the whole article from Marijuanamoment here.
