Ron DeSantis claims recreational pot measure creates 'Big Weed cartel' with legal immunity

Gov. Ron DeSantis alleged a recreational pot measure won’t actually decriminalize all marijuana. Instead, he said Amendment 3 will leave the entire cannabis market in the hands of a “Big Weed cartel.”

“The media will refer to it as marijuana, recreational legalization. That’s not entirely true,” DeSantis said at an Orlando news conference. “It’s a partial legalization because this has been put in by basically one big weed company that spent $75-$80 million.”

That was an apparent swipe at Trulieve, the state’s largest medical cannabis company, which has now put nearly $87.3 million behind the Smart & Safe Florida campaign promoting Amendment 3. The proposed constitutional amendment, if passed, would legalize recreational marijuana.

Of note, the amendment doesn’t address how the sale and distribution of marijuana would be regulated. The state’s medical marijuana program, governed by statutes passed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature after a constitutional amendment passed in 2016, has a limited number of licenses. Vertical integration requirements say companies can only sell the marijuana that the same business grows.



https://floridapolitics.com/archives/696162-ron-desantis-claims-recreational-pot-measure-creates-big-weed-cartel-with-legal-immunity/