Trump throws full support behind Florida pot legalization as DeSantis fights it

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Donald Trump said he supports loosening federal marijuana restrictions and will vote for a Florida ballot initiative seeking to legalize the drug for adult use just hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis warned hundreds of church goers that the measure would create an invincible drug cartel in their shared home state.

Trump already signaled his support for the legalization measure, which will appear on the November ballot as Amendment 3, during a Truth Social message posted in late August. The former president and GOP presidential nominee more explicitly endorsed it with another message posted late Sunday. Trump stopped short of supporting federal decriminalization, but indicated support for reclassifying marijuana under federal law, along with passing banking reform for state-regulated cannabis companies and supporting states’ rights to pass legalization laws.

“As a Floridian, I will be voting YES on Amendment 3 this November,” Trump wrote in the Sunday Truth post. “As President, we will continue to focus on research to unlock medical uses of marijuana to a schedule 3 drug, and work with Congress to pass common sense laws.”

Trump, in his August social media post about Amendment 3, was both positive and negative about the ballot measure, which seeks to legalize pot use for people aged 21 and over and allow the state’s medical marijuana industry to start selling for recreational use. His latest post reinforced concerns that state lawmakers should regulate the drug so that its presence — including its pungent smell — does not impact neighborhoods.

But Trump has also said Amendment 3 would stop “needless” marijuana-related arrests, which he also brought up in his August post.

Trump posted his message about four hours after DeSantis told about 200 people at a Tallahassee church that Amendment 3 was a ploy by one Florida marijuana company to create a drug cartel backed by the state constitution. DeSantis, who won the governor’s seat in 2018 with help from Trump’s endorsement, told the crowd at the Baptist-based City Church that, contrary to claims that Amendment 3 would stop people from being incarcerated on marijuana possession charges, no one is serving time in a Florida prison for simple marijuana possession.

DeSantis also said Amendment 3 would allow people to carry enough pot to make dozens of joints and smoke them anywhere they want. He said states such as Colorado, where marijuana has already been legalized recreationally, had failed to restrict places where the drug is consumed.

“Public use of this will be rampant,” DeSantis said. “You can’t point to a state that is better off for doing it.”

Trump has historically shied away from providing a concrete stance on marijuana legalization. During the 2020 election he said the issue should be left up to each state. He also appointed Jeff Sessions, a notorious opponent of marijuana legalization, as attorney general, who had signaled plans to begin cracking down on enforcement of the federally banned drug that never materialized.

Trump’s endorsement of Amendment 3 comes as the Democrats have the most pro-weed presidential ticket ever, with Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate JD Vance has said that he doesn’t like marijuana legalization, but believes in states rights when it comes to legal weed.

Harris embraced federal legalization as a senator and Walz supported establishing a taxed, regulated market for adults as governor of Minnesota. Trump’s support for reclassifying cannabis to Schedule III closes the differences between him and Harris’ position ahead of the debate on Tuesday.

Trump’s embrace of federal policy assuages some of the concerns of pro-cannabis advocates that the Biden administration’s proposal to reschedule cannabis, a process that will extend beyond Election Day, will be able to continue no matter who wins.

Biden issued an executive order in October 2022 directing federal agencies to conduct a scientific review of marijuana’s status under federal law. In August, the Department of Health and Human Services concluded that marijuana should be moved from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, which would make it easier to conduct scientific research and reduce taxes for cannabis companies. The DEA will have the final say on whether that ultimately happens, but the agency is widely expected to embrace the recommendation.

The previous Trump administration rolled back the Obama administration’s hands-off policy when it came to state-regulated marijuana markets, but there was no ensuing crackdown on state-legal markets.

“Both major party candidates support moving cannabis down to Schedule III. There should be no further delay,” Adam Goers, co-chair of the Coalition for Cannabis Scheduling Reform, said in a statement.

Trump is registered to vote in Florida, making him eligible to vote for Amendment 3 and another high-profile measure, Amendment 4, which seeks to expand abortion rights. Trump has already announced that he will not vote for Amendment 4 but he was highly critical of the state’s recently-enacted ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, which was a top priority for DeSantis.

Trump also historically has given conflicting statements about his stance on abortion rights. He declined to endorse a national abortion ban despite party pressure and has stated that the issue of abortion limits should be left up to the states.

DeSantis on the other hand has come out with force against both Florida ballot measures. Earlier this year he launched a political committee called the Florida Freedom Fund to attack the legalization push and efforts to enshrine the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. He also helped launch the “No on 3” campaign in July.

Amendment 3 will need at least 60 percent of the vote in order to pass, requiring significant support from Republican voters. The campaign behind the measure has collected more than $80 million in cash contributions, and almost all of that money came from the Tallahassee-based Trulieve, which is the state’s largest medical pot company. The measure would allow Trulieve and more than 20 other companies licensed by the state to grow and sell medical marijuana to expand into the recreational market, and then leave future expansion plans up to the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature.

DeSantis said not even people who support marijuana should vote for Amendment 3 because it’s giving control of the industry to Trulieve and other medical pot licensees. Unlike previous efforts to legalize marijuana, which included provisions allowing people to grow a limited number of plants at home, this year’s measure is written to favor the state’s $2 billion medical marijuana industry.

“They’re creating in Florida’s constitution a drug cartel,” DeSantis said. “And they’ll have no liability with the cultivation and sale of marijuana.”

Arek Sarkissian reported from Tallahassee, Florida. Mona Zhang reported from Polson, Montana.