A political committee leading efforts to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana raised more than $4.5 million from Aug. 31 through Sept. 6, with almost all of the money coming from the Trulieve cannabis company, a new finance report shows.
The Smart & Safe Florida committee raised $4,527,791 in cash, with $4.5 million coming from Trulieve.
Also, Trulieve made $382,945 in in-kind contributions during the period, according to the report posted on the state Division of Elections website.
As of Sept. 6, Trulieve had made $87.77 million in cash and in-kind contributions to the committee since 2022, a state database shows.
Keep Florida Clean, a politcal committee in opposition to the proposal, has raised a fraction of that total, about $12 million. Anothere, Florida Freedom Fund, has received only $3.7 million.
Last week, Keep Florida Clean released its first advertisements that claimed the amendment was developed to create a “monopoly” for “marijuana mega corporations.”
The proposed constitutional amendment, which will appear on the November ballot as Amendment 3, says, in part, that it would allow “adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise.”
The proposal requires 60 percent of the vote to pass.
H/T: health.wusf.usf.edu