Inside the Florida Hemp Rebellion
With Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies in the Republican Party pushing back hard against Amendment 3, the cannabis legalization initiative, it’s clear that the lines are drawn, and the fight is anything but friendly.
Not too long ago, we discussed how Ron DeSantis vetoed the bill that would’ve killed the hemp industry in Florida. Since then, he’s taken a strong stance against recreational weed, and it’s started to gain a lot of traction. His new Republican-backed coalition called the “Florida Freedom Fund,” against recreational marijuana is backed by hemp businesses across Florida.
A Fight for Small Businesses
This is a story of resilience, of the small taking on the mighty, and of the hemp farmers who refuse to be steamrolled by big marijuana corporations. With Governor Ron DeSantis as their unexpected ally, Florida’s hemp farmers are standing firm against an initiative they see as a threat to their livelihood and the integrity of their industry.
As DeSantis has argued, the last thing Florida wants is to become the California of the East Coast. If rec passes in November, we’re looking at attracting the wrong kinds of tourists and the inability to enforce the unfettered public marijuana use. His grievances about the smell of cannabis on the streets and in theme parks paint a picture that doesn’t resonate with everyone. Still, they definitely resonate with more conservative folk and the hemp industry, responsible for selling less potent hemp products that still offer a legal high.
Florida is its own country— its own little world. Things are drastically different here than in other states, and a lot of people watching this unfold in other states don’t really realize that. We care a little more about small businesses than the larger ones, and the people here hold more conservative beliefs. Getting Floridians on board with things they disagree with is like pulling teeth— hence all the newfound support against going rec. The fact is that recreational weed could be bad for Florida in a lot of different ways, yet two-thirds of voters are still pro-marijuana.
Florida’s hemp industry, made up of over 10,000 registered businesses, is fighting for survival. These small businesses see the cannabis initiative, largely funded by major marijuana corporations like Trulieve, as a monopolistic threat designed to edge them out. They argue that the initiative does little to foster competition or small business growth, considering that only 25 businesses make up Florida’s medical marijuana industry, even though they can open as many stores as they want.
It would essentially hand over market control to a few large players. By consolidating control within a few powerful hands, the hands of the many could find themselves clenched and empty. The industry—and the people who have made a living through hemp—could go up in smoke.
That move would take a lot of money out of Florida’s coffers. Businesses would close, tens of thousands of people would be out of jobs, and the people who rely on low-dose hemp products and THC alternatives would lose access to them.
The Veto and Its Impact
Despite the vigorous opposition, the bill that was vetoed would have banned the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived cannabinoids. Medical marijuana companies would have benefited from it the most had hemp been outlawed, and more importantly, they were the loudest advocates for the tightened restrictions. But hemp businesses see their rallying together to kill the rec bill as a natural response to a threat.
Critics see the veto as a quid-pro-quo move or a political gambit to get that hemp money to rally against the recreational initiative. However, the farmers and business owners who would have been affected the most by the bill disagreed.
Ernie Ciaccio, an owner of a hemp distribution company called Honest PP&D, told CBS News Miami: “They [critics] want to talk about quid pro quo. Look, that’s not what this is. What this is, is a governor who fought for small business, who said clearly when he issued the veto that he didn’t like the legislation because it was going to hurt small business. And this is small business stepping up to the plate and supporting that governor against an initiative that not only he feels is wrong, but we as an industry feel is wrong.”
Financial and Public Perception Battles
For Amendment 3 to pass and legalize recreational cannabis, 60% of voters would have to support the ballot initiative, which is why hemp businesses are working so hard to gain traction on the “Vote No On 3” movement. “Everyone is focusing on the money,” Ciaccio said, “Nobody is focusing on the 100,000 employees, the boots on the ground educating clients at the stores.”
With the hemp industry on board, one hand is actively washing the other. Since DeSantis stepped in to protect small businesses and the hemp industry as a whole by vetoing the hemp-killing bill, those same hemp farmers he saved from bankruptcy are rallying to support killing the rec bill— and have pledged $5 million in support of the anti-recreational movement.
Another hemp company plans to donate $250,000 to DeSantis’ campaign. Arby Barroso, a partner at hemp manufacturing company Arvida Labs said “For us, it would be great to have equal footing (with medical marijuana) and let the consumer choose. “We love the plant,” he added. “This has nothing to do with the plant. How can we support an amendment that gives no freedom to thousands of small businesses?”
Unfortunately, these pledges and donations are just a drop in the bucket compared to what the Smart & Safe Florida Campaign has raised. This campaign is said to be the most expensive legalization effort in U.S. history.
Governor DeSantis’s newly launched political action committee, the “Florida Freedom Fund,” aims at opposing the marijuana legalization ballot initiative and has raised a meager $120,000 in campaign funds, plus the $5 million or so pledged from the hemp industry. In stark contrast, Smart and Safe, which is for legalizing weed, has amassed over $60 million thanks to major corporate donors like Trulieve.
But public perception is still important, too. Campaigning can only go so far as to sway public opinion. Florida Freedom Fund may have limited funding for fancy advertisements and commercials as the Smart & Safe campaign does, but the tension is palpable, to say the least. It could go one way or the other at this point, but with two-thirds of voters currently against DeSantis, there’s a good chance rec might pass.
