The Florida Sheriffs Association 2024 Summer Conference is this week in Orlando.
Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke Tuesday to law enforcement attendees and had a lot to say about the constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana on this year’s ballot.
This November, voters in Florida will decide on Amendment Three, which if passed would legalize weed for adults 21 years old and older and allow possession of up to three ounces.
The measure would go into effect six months after passage.
But DeSantis said the initiative is a bad idea.
He said the proposal was pitched as a way to, among other things, eliminate the black market in the state. But said legalization did nothing to get rid of the black market in California, where voters approved recreational pot in 2016.
“It’s actually led to way more drugs. It’s led to more dangerous drugs coming in,” DeSantis said. “And then when you have that, more people using drugs generally, there’s going to be other drugs that the market is going to increase for. And so, it just didn’t work.”
He added he thinks the language of the marijuana initiative on the ballot gives too broad of rights for recreational use.
“The right to, for the marijuana use is going to be a broader right than your First Amendment right to free speech, your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” DeSantis said. “I mean, it’s ridiculous. So this isn’t going to be good. It’s not going to be good for law and order. It’s not going to be good for quality of life.”
The measure needs a 60% supermajority to pass. Historically, other states
Currently, medicinal use is legal in the state, but it is not decriminalized – which means someone can be prosecuted for possessing any amount of non-medical marijuana. Florida is one of 19 states that imposes jail time for possession of cannabis.
Recreational marijuana use is legal in 24 states and Washington D.C.
