Florida’s Amendment 3 went up in smoke, as the Republican Governor, law enforcement and businesses fought against marijuana legalization.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce thanked Governor Ron DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis, Florida Sheriffs Association as well as local law enforcement and local businesses for protecting the state constitution and “preventing efforts to impose California-style drug laws onto Florida’s businesses and communities.”
The Florida Chamber of Commerce said it continues to be the unifying voice for business in Florida politics. The group applauded the defeat of Amendment 3 – Adult Personal Use of Marijuana.
“Amendment 3 was bad for Florida and even worse for Floridians,” said Mark Wilson, President and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “This pro drug amendment was bad for our kids, bad for our communities, bad for our local business, and ultimately bad for Florida. The Florida Chamber was proud to stand with Governor DeSantis to unite community and business leaders across Florida to help ensure this amendment’s defeat.”
The Florida Chamber of Commerce said that despite nearly 150 million dollars spent on Amendment 3 by a single marijuana company to buy their way around the legislative process and into the constitution, Floridians weren’t fooled into importing the same problems seen in California, Colorado and elsewhere and instead voted to maintain Florida’s competitiveness and quality of life.
The Florida Chamber launched the employer-to-employee education website www.FLBizAgainstA3.com to help local businesses learn about the negative consequences of this misguided proposal and joined Governor DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis, law enforcement leaders and local businesses across Florida for statewide webinars and roundtables to educate Florida voters.
Florida Democrats responded to marijuana amendment falling short of the 60% threshold and attacked Republicans like Governor Ron DeSantis.
“The failure of Amendment 3 is a direct result of illegal campaign activity by Ron DeSantis and the Executive Office of the Governor,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Using millions of dollars of opioid settlement money and breaking multiple statutes along the way, Ron used the full force of the state to lie to voters about the effects of cannabis legalization — from enlisting state agencies to produce illegal anti-cannabis propaganda to putting his own Chief of Staff in charge of the campaign effort.”
“Floridians everywhere should be outraged at this stunning government overreach,” FDP Chair Nikki Fried continued. “The so-called party of ‘small government’ has turned Florida into an authoritarian hellscape, and they used taxpayer dollars to do it. Florida Democrats will continue to do everything in our power to hold these extremists accountable for their actions.”
The Florida Chamber has long opposed importing drugs into the state constitution and special interest efforts to bypass the legislative process by abusing the ballot initiative process. The Florida Chamber also said it will continue to work to protect the state constitution and secure Florida’s future by aggressively opposing amendments that are wrong for Florida and have no place in Florida’s foundational document.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce also saw general election wins for 101 of 103 Chamber-backed candidates.
