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A dispute between a senior staffer for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the CEO of the state's largest medical marijuana company has intensified over the proposed cannabis legalization initiative, known as Amendment 3, which will be on the November 2024 ballot.
Gov. DeSantis vehemently opposes the legalization amendment, but based on what his staffer thinks, he could dislike the fact it does not include provisions for home-cultivation of cannabis.
Christina Pushaw, a senior management analyst in the governor's office, took to social media on Tuesday to let off some collective steam about the amendment that one would assume she, nor her boss DeSantis, would be voting for. "Amendment 3 would create a monopoly on recreational [cannabis]" and "doesn't allow home growing," she lamented.
She questioned why Florida's legalization amendment omits home cultivation when other states that have legalized recreational marijuana include it. "It's not about ‘freedom,' it's corporate greed," she went on.
Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve Cannabis Corp (OTCQX:TCNNF), the prominent multi-state cannabis operator which significantly funded the Florida legalization campaign, responded to Pushaw's remarks.
"Great news — it looks like @GovRonDeSantis supports home grow in Florida per his spokesperson! While we could not include it in this amendment due to Florida Supreme Court single subject rules (which he knows), this is absolutely something we can support via implementation in the legislature and with the Governors support we can get it done!"
The cannabis company CEO respectfully stopped short of saying "Yay."
Back to X (formerly Twitter), Pushaw accused Rivers of a "reading comprehension fail," reiterating that the amendment is "purely about lining your own pockets at Floridians' expense."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Smart & Safe Florida, the advocacy group behind Amendment 3, echoed Rivers' sentiment, explaining that including a home cultivation option would have risked disqualification under the state Constitution's single-subject restrictions. These restrictions previously led to the disqualification of earlier legalization proposals, although the measure passed Supreme Court review in April 2024, despite attempts by state officials to invalidate it.
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Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Gage Skidmore of Ron DeSantis via Wikimedia Commons; photo by Jose Luis Sanchez Pereyra via Unsplash
Posted In: TCNNF
