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Florida senators make bipartisan push for recreational marijuana: 'Amendment 3 is good for Florida'

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Published  September 17, 2024 4:07pm EDT
Florida
FOX 13 News

The fight over Amendment 3 in Florida

Voters will decide in November whether to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida. While there’s bipartisan support for the measure, it has its critics. Some are worried it will benefit large corporations eager to cash in on state licenses.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The fight over recreational marijuana is in full swing, as Floridians weigh Amendment 3.

Backers are pushing for Floridians to have the right to use marijuana for recreational purposes. Those urging Floridians to "just say no" insist the amendment runs the risk of filling the coffers of big corporations eager to cash in on state licenses.

And those on the side of passing Amendment 3 are getting a bipartisan boost.

State Sens. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota) and Shevin Jones (D-Miami Lakes), taped a commercial for "Smart and Safe Florida" noting their political differences and that "we don't agree on hardly anything," but that they do agree that Amendment 3 should be passed.

"But we do agree on this," they say. "Amendment 3 is good for Florida."

"Smart and Safe Florida" collected over 1 million signatures backing Amendment 3, which "Allows adults 21 and over to possess, purchase or use marijuana for nonmedical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion or otherwise."

READ: Law enforcement worries legalizing recreational marijuana in Florida would encourage stoned driving

"Look at these individuals who we have placed and wrongfully put in jail for low amounts of marijuana," said Jones in an interview with FOX 13.

"I think we need to regulate and put the guardrails up," said Gruters.

In trying to become the 25th state to legalize recreational marijuana, Smart and Safe Florida is up against Gov. DeSantis and the Florida Sheriff's Association.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd points out that the amendment limits growing and selling to previously existing medical marijuana treatment centers and state licensed entities.

"This is about big corporations making hundreds of millions of dollars."

The state legislature would have to create a set of rules governing where you could smoke, how it would be taxed and where those funds would go.

"We could take those proceeds, put it into education, into rehabilitation and put it into law enforcement," said Gruters.

Gruters says he's in favor of a ban on public smoking, which he hopes would blunt the governor's warning that Floridians might start smelling weed while they're out and about.

Voters and lawmakers will debate the impact on health, addiction, crime and road safety.

"Please be educated," said Judd. "Don't listen to the slick commercials where they're intentionally lying and misleading you."

But now, they'll do so knowing both sides of the aisle have found common ground.

"If we truly call ourselves the free state of Florida, then we should define what that actually means," said Jones.

The amendment would require 60 percent of the vote on election night to become part of the state constitution.

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