Jacob Ogles
Will a recreational pot measure give one company an economic high?
A new advertisement from the Vote No on 3 campaign asserts that the ballot measure was written to give the state’s largest medical marijuana company a monopoly on the Florida market.
“They wrote it, they rigged it, and they’re hoping you fall for it,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot. “Amendment 3 isn’t the ‘marijuana’ amendment. It’s the ‘monopoly’ amendment.”
While the ad itself never mentions a business by name, a press release makes clear the target: Trulieve. That company through mid-August provided $65 million of the nearly $72 million raised to date for the Smart & Safe Florida campaign supporting Amendment 3. That followed the company completely financing the effort to get the measure on the ballot.
Vote No on 3 campaign officials predicted the measure will fail if voters see it as an effort by a single company to back its own private interests.
“Floridians know a bad deal when they see one,” said Vote No on 3 spokeswoman Sarah Bascom. “This amendment does nothing for them and was written solely to pad the profits of the mega marijuana corporations by granting them a monopoly. It’s not about access to weed, it’s about corporate greed.”
The ad focuses, as a result, less on what the amendment will allow if passed and more on what will remain against the law.
“Marijuana mega corporations spent 60 million bucks putting Amendment 3 on your ballot,” the narrator states. “Why? It entrenches their monopoly, bans homegrown pot, and gives special licenses to corporations.”
The ad suggests that no businesses act philanthropically.
“Giant corporations don’t do things out of the goodness of their heart. They do things to make money. And that’s exactly why they wrote Amendment 3,” the ad states.
The ad continues by saying the campaign for the amendment has tried to prevent the measure as reasonable policy, when really it would benefit the business most heavily invested in it.
18 comments
Victoria Olson
September 9, 2024 at 11:27 am
Alcohol is a much bigger problem more people are killed by drunk driving. where are the statistics for pot related deaths ? Because there is none to little. When they make alcohol illegal, I would vote against it but my vote is YES just another power political ploy.
Dont Say FLA
September 9, 2024 at 11:32 am
And a weed monopoly, if one were to exist, would be worse than Florida’s current situation of unregulated, fentany’all laced, illegal weed how?
Stephen D
September 9, 2024 at 11:45 am
So the dirty weed is going to magically disappear when the corporations are allowed to sell the twice the price clean weed?
JD
September 9, 2024 at 11:59 am
So you know weed prices of illegal dirty weed vs legal clean weed? How do you know they won’t be the same price, safer product? Don’t you pay more for regulated hooch than bath-tub gin?
rick whitaker
September 10, 2024 at 12:08 pm
JD, florida is known in other states for having shitty pot. i ASSUME that if florida legalized pot, it will remain shitty. mountain grown pot is usually better, florida has no mountains. selling shitty pot means they can sell a lot more of it. when you have great pot, you don’t need much at all, bad for profit mongers. what do i know, iv’e only been smoking pot for 58 years daily.
Virginia Campbell
September 12, 2024 at 9:44 am
If it’s legalized the options and abilities to buy great legal clean cali..mountain grown ..Golden Green Triangle meticulously grown herbals..We will be flooded with options .. When it’s legal we will trade with amazing growers ..100 %
Tom
September 9, 2024 at 12:35 pm
Much the same way that I don’t buy backyard moonshine because I can walk into a liquor store and buy bourbon. I have a friend with cancer and I drive him to the pot shop on occasion when he needs a ride. They have sales and frankly, it’s pretty inexpensive. Why deal with gang bangers when you can buy good quality edibles/ leaf / whatever and not run the risk of getting ripped off or killed?
rick whitaker
September 10, 2024 at 12:13 pm
TOM, it’s not a binary choice, i don’t mess with any criminal types, yet i have no problem finding all the homegrown good pot i want grown by little old ladies living in mountain shacks.
Ocean Joe
September 9, 2024 at 1:24 pm
Hope the horse you rode in here on isn’t as lame as your argument. One aspect: legalizing adult recreational use, regardless of the source, is going to save a lot of folks from being dragged through the court system, but your argument should be ‘it will make it tougher on police to make pretextual stops’ in the police state of Florida.
Ron Ogden
September 9, 2024 at 3:38 pm
Pot, booze, vape, gambling, porn: all the same thing. No matter how legal, they are all just mechanisms that the rich use to separate fools from their money. The sheep get fleeced and the farmer gets the dough. I guess that’s why the sheep are the sheep. And quite a few of the people advocating for this free pot campaign would spend their next breath declaring how opposed they are to big corporate capitalism. It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.
rick whitaker
September 10, 2024 at 12:16 pm
RON OGDEN, your post would be funny, if it weren’t so pathetic. things are not as simple as you seem to be.
Chris Ide
September 9, 2024 at 6:55 pm
Unless the amendment specifically states that one company will be given a monopoly to sell marijuana (it doesn’t) or unless they have information that state officials intend to award only one company the right to sell, the ad is nothing but misinformation if not an outright lie. Those making the monopoly claim must provide substantial evidence of their claim or should go pound sand.
Charles
September 9, 2024 at 8:13 pm
100% correct Chris.
Nothing but trying to create fear in the voting public. The lies and misinformation is stunning
Larry
September 9, 2024 at 9:07 pm
If you’re worried about creating a monopoly and you’re telling us that we wouldn’t be able to grow it at home. There’s one way to stop that from happening and that’s to legalize it before the election. That’ll stop them from creating a monopoly. But let be honest you don’t care about that you just don’t want those people voting.
Sherry D Healey
September 10, 2024 at 8:17 am
Jacob, if you are a true journalist, let me ask you this first question. Why is the first paragraph all your point of view of a commercials? The commercial insinuates that big corporations are backing this bill, when the only company backing it is Trulieve??? How ignorant are expecting us all to be? I would be more worried about all the corporations backing the NRA! You have an opinion about keeping war weapons on the streets so people can kill our babies?
Next questions……Did you fact check that spokeswoman Sarah Bascom, who works for a corporations promoting winning strategies????
Jacob, I am offended that I had to go and fact check a journalist with more experience and most likely is paid a ton more than I get paid as a teacher.
I look forward to your response. Do what is right even when it may feel wrong. Facts over opinion and manipulated facts.
DGL_GROOT
September 11, 2024 at 12:54 pm
Please someone, post the segments of the proposed law that states it will be a monopoly granted to one corporation and individuals will be forbidden to grow their own pot.
Thanks
unseeliepixie
September 11, 2024 at 11:28 pm
Wait, so now the GOP is against capitalism? I thought that corporations were what provided such wealth and prosperity to the masses…
Yes on 3 Florida
September 15, 2024 at 1:51 pm
They are actually boldface lying, the amendment specifically allows the Florida Government to give more licenses, it has no limits on those. If you go on Ballotpedia.org and read Amendment 3 it says it in black and white. Theres already 22 companies, 3 newly awarded licenses and 22 more pending in Florida that the Desantis camp is holding hostage while they perpetuate these lies about a “monopoly” in Florida. There’s nearly 700 dispensaries in Florida right now, and Trulieve only operates around 20% of them. Please fact check all of this, it is 100% the truth. The Desantis administration and his lying prohibitionist cohorts are guilty of massive slander and defamation for starters. As far as homegrow goes, Florida is a strict “single subject state” and to pass Supreme court review so that voters can actually vote on the ballot initiative – this version had to (by law) stay single subject and could not add in homegrow. That has to be done separately, as part 2 which the CEO of Trulieve Kim Rivers has publicly stated is their intention. Amendment 3 never mentions or bans any homegrow, in fact attorneys have concluded that the Florida lawmakers (if they are so concerned like they claim) can absolutely allow it legally during implementation of Amendment 3 which they have 6 months to do after it passes this November. The no on 3 liars are funded by big pharma and law enforcement private prison interests, and Desantis was paid of by the “big hemp” industry in Florida who pledged 5 million to his GOP campaign fund after he vetoed a bill that would have finally regulated the rampant “gas station weed” and synthetic chemicals like delta 8 the “hemp” folks in Florida are peddling. They do not want real legal lab tested SAFE Cannabis to be sold to all adults in Florida because they are greedy and they are trying to protect their profits. You can fact check every single statement here, all the truth. We must VOTE #YesOn3 to finally legalize it and end prohibition in Florida! YesOn3.com
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