Group behind recreational pot amendment debuts John Morgan radio ads promoting Amendment 3

John Morgan's fight for a $15 minimum wage closes in on the 2020 ballot.

The “Pot Daddy” is officially on board with the latest effort to decriminalize marijuana in Florida. And the evidence is in — or rather on — the air.

Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan formally endorsed Amendment 3 at a midday press conference in Orlando. Smart & Safe Florida, the initiative behind the effort to legalize responsible adult use of cannabis recreationally, debuted ads with the trial lawyer’s familiar voice.

“Today, too many adults are sitting in our jails simply because they were using marijuana,” Morgan said. “And that is just wrong.”

Morgan’s baritone voice and mild twang will be familiar to anyone living in Florida for any time since the 1980s, thanks to his ubiquitous “For The People” ads.

He also has been a major political force in Florida, not only financially supporting candidates for statewide office but openly considering a run himself. He added fuel to that fire in the Smart & Safe radio spots by pondering how he would handle marijuana if he resided in a certain Tallahassee mansion.

“If I was your Governor, I would free or parole every person in jail for possession and then expunge everyone’s record,” he said.

But Morgan’s most successful foray into the political world came not by putting his name on the ballot, but by prominently bankrolling the successful campaign to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. A constitutional amendment passed in Florida in 2016.

The radio ads show the message Morgan will promote leading into this year’s General Election, when the expansion of recreational marijuana will appear on the ballot.

“Let the cops fight real crime, not fake crime,” Morgan says in a radio spot. “I’m tired of people being thrown in jail for something that is less harmful than alcohol or opioids.”

But he also alludes in other spots to the less successful push to legalize marijuana in 2014. That year, many expected the ballot measure to pass, but a well-funded campaign pillorying the proposal in the last weeks of the campaign effectively stopped that. While the amendment enjoyed majority support, the initiative fell a bit short of the 60% threshold to make it into the Florida Constitution.

“I ran two previous amendments for medical marijuana and won the second time,” Morgan says in one radio spot. “All the lies they told last time, they’re telling this time. They said pot shops would ruin neighborhoods and churches. Didn’t happen. They said children would get it and use it. Didn’t happen. Our Governor says it’s going to cause a stink. Come on, dog.”

In one ad, Morgan stresses that the limits built into the amendment this year will preclude some of the concerns.

“They said then, and they’re saying now, the smoke will be everywhere. That’s nonsense and a complete lie,” Morgan says.

“If Amendment 3 passes, adults can safely use marijuana, but not in public places. That’s in the law and in the Constitution, just like with tobacco. So now, let’s finish what I started and don’t believe the lying liars in Tallahassee.”