Joe Gruters wants Florida to ban public smoking if voters legalize recreational weed

Joe Gruters looks to make School Board races partisan again.

Sen. Joe Gruters may favor legalizing marijuana, but he doesn’t want stoners lighting up outside.

The Sarasota Republican unveiled legislation he intends to file next year that would outlaw smoking of any sort in public places. He said such regulation will be appropriate if Florida voters approve Amendment 3, a measure he has endorsed that would allow adult use of cannabis recreationally.

“It’s time to decriminalize and I think we can control the time, place and manner,” he said. “That last bit is where this bill comes into play. I think Florida does not want to be like Las Vegas or New York.”

At a virtual press conference, Gruters said he will file legislation expanding outdoor restrictions on all smoking, including vaping and marijuana use. The state Senator previously championed legislation signed in 2022 that allows local governments to regulate smoking on beaches and in parks.

Gruters worked on a beach smoking ban for over five years during his time in the House, and later in the Senate. He said giving the right to cities and counties to ban beach smoking was the best he could achieve at the time. But he believes the potential legalizing of recreational marijuana is a perfect chance to revisit the issue.

The press conference also included Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat who plans to co-sponsor the bill, and Rep. Chip LaMarca, a Lighthouse Point Republican who carried the House version of Gruters’ beach smoking bill.

“For me, it’s not about the passage or the failure of Amendment 3. It’s about the guardrails,” said Rouson. “It’s about enjoying the public places like parks, like beaches, like other public places where folks don’t want to walk into smoke.”

LaMarca stressed an environmental aspect to regulating where people smoke any type of product.

“I want to make sure that we keep our pristine environment and people can go enjoy themselves at sidewalk cafes, beaches, parks and, quite honestly, their own neighborhoods,” he said.

As drafted, Gruters’ bill would prohibit smoking in all areas open to the public, including private property like lobbies, retail stores and restaurants. But he stressed that the bill was a starting point in the legislative process.

Notably, neither Rouson nor LaMarca has taken a public position on the amendment legalizing recreational marijuana. But Gruters said the measure is definitely a driving factor in him revising regulations for smoking.

He faced resistance to his legislation regarding cigarettes on beaches, including from the cigar industry, a reason why the state law passed specifically exempts that product.

Gruters, the former Republican Party of Florida Chair and Florida’s current Republican National Committeeman surprised many when he publicly endorsed the marijuana amendment, putting him at odds with Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state party. That prompted conversations with the Governor and other party leaders.

The majority who objected to his position, Gruters said, raised concerns about the perpetual odor of marijuana smoke in some parts of the country that already legalized recreational cannabis.

Gruters believes his bill addresses that concern. He modeled it off of a statute in place in Arizona, a state that banned public smoking at the same time it legalized weed.

“I’m not a big fan of smoking of any kind anywhere,” he said. “I think it infringes on my quiet enjoyment of when I’m out in the public.”