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Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
April 4, 2024
Gov. Ron DeSantis says that the constitutional amendments that Floridians will vote on in November — abortion access and recreational weed — are “extreme” and “radical” and predicts that both measures will come up short of the 60% voter threshold required to become law.
“Once voters figure out how radical both of those are, they’re going to fail,” DeSantis said in a press event in Davie, in Broward County. “They are very, very extreme.”
The governor weighed in on the two proposed amendments, which received the seal of approval by the Florida Supreme Court on Monday to be placed on the November 5 ballot.
DeSantis attacked the proposal (to be listed as Amendment 3 on the ballot) which would legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older and allow individuals to possess up to 3 ounces, with no more than 5 grams in concentrated form.
“The weed one is not just to decriminalize, it’s basically a license to have it anywhere you want,” he said. “No time, place and manner restrictions. This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and counties. It will reduce the quality of life.”
DeSantis then mentioned Florida’s medical marijuana program, which he said he “implemented” though that wasn’t exactly accurate.
After the voters approved medical marijuana in 2016 by more than 71%, the Florida Legislature passed a bill in 2017 that excluded the smokable form of marijuana for medicinal patients. That led Orlando-based attorney John Morgan to file a lawsuit demanding that the state allow medical consumers to be able to smoke the plant. Shortly after he took office in 2019, DeSantis pushed the Legislature to amend the law to allow patients to have the smokable form of cannabis.
“But do we really need to do more with that? Do we want to have more marijuana in our communities? I don’t think that it will work out well,” DeSantis said, in reference to legalizing recreational cannabis.
The governor was less expansive on his thoughts about the constitutional amendment that would protect abortion access until viability, which will be listed as Amendment 4 on the ballot. The Florida Supreme Court approved the ballot language for that proposal on a 4-3 vote. The justices also ruled on a 6-1 vote on Monday, allowing a six-week abortion ban beginning May 1 across the state.
He then went on to bash the whole concept of constitutional amendments in Florida, which over the past two decades have become one of the only ways for progressive legislation to become law in a GOP-dominant Legislature.
“I think Florida voters over the past four or five cycles have developed a skepticism on these amendments generally because they’re always written in ways that are confusing,” DeSantis said. “You don’t necessarily know what the intent’s going to be. So I think there’s a certain segment of voters, they default. Just vote ‘no’ on these things. Because they know that these things cost tens of millions of dollars to get on.”
While the Florida electorate has rejected a number of proposed constitutional amendments over recent election cycles, they also voted to approve amendments such as raising the minimum wage up to $15 (2020); to allow for the automatic restoration of voting rights for felons (2018); for legalizing medical marijuana (2016), and for “Fair Districts” (2010) that were intended to prevent legislators from drawing lines favoring political parties or incumbents.
Before the governor discussed the constitutional amendments, he was in Broward on Thursday for a bill signing ceremony for legislation that will allocate hundreds of millions of dollars to preserve wildlife, waterways and green spaces in Florida.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
