Company Behind Florida’s Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure Sues State Republican Party Over ‘False And Misleading’ Claims To Voters

The main backer of a marijuana legalization initiative on Florida’s ballot next month has filed a defamation suit against the state’s Republican Party, alleging it knowingly deceived voters about the proposed constitutional change known as Amendment 3.

Trulieve, Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator, which has contributed more than $90 million to the adult-use campaign, says the GOP has run an “intentionally deceptive campaign” with “demonstrably false” claims that are “trying to fool Florida voters” into opposing the adult-use reform.

The suit, the company says in the filing, is an effort to “set the record straight.”

“The GOP knew that the claims in the deceptive mailer and ad were false, intentionally deceptive, and duplicitous,” says the complaint, filed on Wednesday in the state’s Second Judicial Circuit Court, “but published them anyway in order to trick Florida voters into voting against a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of cannabis.”

The lawsuit also lists as defendants two Florida TV stations, which the company alleges aired the “false and misleading” ads.

Central to the allegations is a TV spot from Amendment 3 opponents, which the company says implies that only large corporations, like Trulieve, would benefit under the proposal. Some have criticized the plan, saying it would create a “monopoly” with limited licenses and a prohibition on home cultivation for personal use.

Trulieve’s lawsuit says that’s untrue, because state lawmakers would have the authority to issue more licenses if the measure becomes law. And it notes that Florida already prohibits home cultivation of cannabis—a matter the constitutional amendment simply doesn’t touch.

“Amendment 3 cannot prohibit something that is already prohibited,” the complaint says, “and the plain text of Amendment 3 says nothing about the home cultivation of cannabis and does not change the current state of the law with respect to that issue.”

Another ad targeted by the suit is a campaign mailer by the Republican Party of Florida. It called Amendment 3 “a power grab by mega marijuana corporations, eliminating their competition and enshrining their monopoly advantage in the Constitution forever.”

Again, Trulieve says that’s false because the legislature could issue additional licenses, increasing competition.

“Rather than eliminating competition, the ballot initiative would increase competition by allowing the state to authorize additional licenses to grow and sell cannabis,” the suit contends.

Voting by mail in Florida has already begun for the November 5 election.

A representative for Trulieve did not immediately respond to Marijuana Moment’s request for comment.

Trulieve filed the following cease-and-desist letters sent to the TV stations demanding that they pull the offending ad, according to the Tampa Free Press.

In response to the suit, chair of the Florida Republican Party, Evan Power, chided Trulieve on Wednesday.

“It is so funny that a company that puts almost $100 million into a political campaign is so sensitive about honest TV ads,” Power said in a text message to the Miami Herald, the paper reported Wednesday. “The proponents of Amendment 3 are trying to take down these ads that they know are truthful and are working. That is why they are using lawfare to try to silence us, but we will not be deterred in our efforts. If this huge, powerful corporation can’t handle it, then they should go sit at the little kid’s table.”

Meanwhile, the pro-legalization campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, released an ad of its own this week, highlighting the fact that both major party presidential nominees and their running mates oppose criminalizing people over cannabis.

The ad—titled “We’re All Saying the Same Thing”—comes just days after Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, reaffirmed her support for legalizing marijuana. That followed weeks of silence on the issue after she rose to the top of the ticket.

Smart & Safe Florida took that opportunity to compile a roundup of clips featuring Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D)—as well as former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, and his VP pick Sen. JD Vance (R-OH)—voicing support for reform.

“Amendment 3 isn’t about political parties or red v. blue identities,” Morgan Hill, spokesperson for the campaign, said in a press release. “Supporting the legalization of recreational adult use marijuana is about upholding the principles of individual freedom and liberty that our country was founded upon.”

While each candidate was shown talking about their belief that the country should stop criminalizing people over cannabis, there are still some nuances to their individual marijuana positions.

Harris and Walz both back legalization. During her time in the Senate, Harris sponsored a bill to end federal cannabis prohibition, for example. And Walz enthusiastically signed a Minnesota bill into law to enact legalization at the state level. However, while he’s supported federal reform during his time in Congress, he recently said he believes it’s a matter that should be left up to states.

Trump, a Florida resident, is the only candidate who has specifically endorsed Amendment 3, but he’s historically taken a states’ rights position on legalization overall. Recently, he also came out in support of federal rescheduling and allowing marijuana industry access to the banking system.

Outside the presidential race, there’s been a mix of support and opposition for the Florida legalization amendment on both sides of the partisan spectrum.

For example, the former head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under then-President Bill Clinton recently urged Florida voters to reject the marijuana legalization initiative, arguing that it would create a “new addiction-for-profit industry” in the state.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) opposition is well-established. And last week the governor was accused of weaponizing a taxpayer-funded ad from a state agency as part of his campaign to defeat the marijuana measure.

Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a former state agriculture commissioner, recently endorsed Amendment 3. And the chair also laid out a framework for regulating cannabis that she thinks the legislature should enact if voters do approve the reform. That involves automatic expungements for prior marijuana convictions, taking steps to mitigate the risk of monopolization in the industry and directing tax revenue to Black communities and education.

Meanwhile, two congressional Republicans representing Florida also recently weighed in on the state’s marijuana legalization initiative—with Rep. Laurel Lee (R-FL) predicting it will fail and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) saying he remains undecided on the measure even after former President Donald Trump came out in support of it.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), for his part, has said he intends to vote against it, strictly because he feels the reform should be enacted statutorily, rather than as a constitutional amendment that would prove more challenging to amend.

On the other hand, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, predicted earlier this year that the measure will pass.

A pair of Republican and Democratic Florida senators recently teamed up to promote the state marijuana legalization initiative, making a joint appearance in a new ad for the campaign as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) continues to rally against the measure, claiming it would benefit a corporate “weed cartel.”

Sen. Joe Gruters (R), the former chair of the Florida Republican Party, and Sen. Shevrin Jones (D) stood side-by-side in the ad for Smart & Safe Florida, acknowledging that while they “don’t agree on much—hardly anything” and would be each voting for their respective party’s presidential nominee, they “do agree on this: Amendment 3 is good for Florida.”

While polling has also consistently demonstrated that the ballot measure enjoys majority support from Democrats and Republicans alike—and despite the fact that the 2024 GOP nominee, former President Donald Trump, has endorsed it as well—Florida’s governor has not relented in his crusade to defeat it.

Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers and Gruters, the GOP state senator, also met with Trump ahead of his endorsement of Amendment 3, as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access.

Meanwhile, another recent survey from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which is against the cannabis initiative, found that 59 percent of likely voters in the state back Amendment 3.

A separate poll from the James Madison Institute (JMI) showed 64 percent of likely voters in Florida are in favor of the legalization proposal.

Smart & Safe Florida also rolled out another series of new ads last month—including one calling out the hypocrisy of criminalizing cannabis while alcohol is legally available and another featuring a county sheriff making the case for ending marijuana prohibition.

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