Matt Gaetz says he opposes proposed amendment legalizing marijuana for adults

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz has worked to boost legal marijuana access since his days in the Florida Legislature.

A decade ago, he was the House sponsor of the bill legalizing low-THC medical marijuana. Last year, Gaetz proposed to stop testing members of the military for cannabis use. Today, however, Gaetz says he will be voting against Amendment 3, the ballot proposal that would allow adults 21 or older to possess recreational marijuana.

Gaetz was asked about the pot amendment and another one dealing with abortion rights following a re-election campaign rally he held in Pensacola.

“Regardless of how someone feels about abortion or marijuana, I don’t believe that those issues should be resolved in the state constitution,” Gaetz said during a gaggle with several reporters.

Gaetz’s remarks come just days after former President Donald Trump declined to say if he would vote for or against the two initiatives on this year’s ballot. Instead, Trump suggested he would hold a press conference “in the near future” to announce his position.

Trump in his remarks left open the door that he would support the initiative allowing the use of marijuana. He said last week that “as we legalize it, I start to agree a lot more because it’s being legalized all over the country.”

He added that “Florida has something coming up. I’ll be making a statement about that fairly soon, but as we legalize it throughout the country, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s awfully hard to have people all over the jails that are in jail right now for something that’s legal. So, I think obviously there’s a lot of sentiment to doing that.”

Gaetz helped sponsor the first medical marijuana law passed by the Florida Legislature in 2014, which permitted the use of a noneuphoric, low-THC cannabis to treat conditions such as epilepsy.

He said that the legislation “had lots of flaws” that required legislators to make changes to the law over the years.

“I think when you ensconce abortion policy or marijuana policy in the constitution you limit the ability to appropriately tailor policy to evolving circumstances and evolving technologies,” Gaetz said.

Many Republicans, including Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, have said they oppose Amendment 3. But state Sen. Joe Gruters, who is also an ally of Trump, has come out in favor of the measure.

Amendment 3 must win support from 60% of those voting on the initiative in order to become law.