The Mega Marijuana Companies Aren’t Being Honest About Why Amendment 3 is Flawed

Last week, State Senator Joe Gruters proposed new legislation that would ban smoking in public. Gruters’ move was a stunning admission that Amendment 3 is legally flawed and that the only way to stop unlimited smoking in public if it is approved by the voters in November is for the legislature to pass a bill cleaning up Amendment 3’s mess.

But legislators know that’s not going to be possible, because they can’t fix with legislation what the Constitutional Amendment purposely left out.  They can’t fix it – don’t be fooled.

It’s ironic that the same people who support legalizing recreational marijuana through constitutional amendment instead of trusting the legislature to do so are now changing their tune and claiming that only the legislature can fix the problem that their amendment creates.

We all agree that marijuana shouldn’t be smoked in public places, but the only way to ensure that remains the case in Florida is to defeat Amendment 3.

The Mega Marijuana Companies Aren’t Being Honest About Why Amendment 3 is Flawed

While the mega marijuana companies are now teaming up with Gruters to claim that they can fix the problem their amendment creates with a simple bill, they aren’t being honest with voters about why their amendment is flawed.

The authors of this amendment and their allies are concealing the fact that they could have worded it correctly to begin with. But don’t trust us, just read the words of their amendment yourselves.  In a section called “Limitations,” here is what they say about smoking.

(6) Nothing in this section shall require any accommodation of any on-site medical use of marijuana in any correctional institution or detention facility or place of education or employment, or of smoking medical marijuana in any public place.

As outlined above, they specifically ban: “smoking medical marijuana in any public place.”  They purposely and obviously ban smoking medical marijuana in public places, but they do not extend that ban to all marijuana or personal use marijuana.

Therefore, any argument that they didn’t have enough space to ban the smoking of recreational marijuana in Amendment 3 or that it would have violated “single subject” by doing so is just not true.  They purposely chose not to take this course, and they should be asked why.

What’s all the more damning for the marijuana companies is that throughout the amendment they cross through and delete the word “medical” and delete sections relevant to medical but not personal use of marijuana but chose not to on the issue of smoking in public. Again, they should be asked why.

We know why they did it and the reason is insidious and self-serving, but that’s a fact our campaign is saving for later.

The Legislature Has No Authority to Bail out the Authors of Amendment 3

We would like to reiterate that a “Yes” vote on a Constitutional Amendment is forever – you cannot change it without another Constitutional Amendment.  The fact that the authors of Amendment 3 believe they can address the issue of smoking in public with a legislative bill is ridiculous.

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ABOUT

The Vote No on 3 Campaign is running a vigorous and full-throated campaign to warn Floridians about this deceptive amendment seeking to make Florida the California of the east – a notion anathema to most Floridians. The campaign will highlight how Amendment 3 will cause the black market to explode; make pot more prevalent and more readily accessible for our children; has no time, place, or manner restrictions; and does not provide a plan for how the money generated from marijuana sales will be allocated. To learn more, visit no-on3.com and follow VoteNoOn3FL on Facebook, @VoteNo_On3 on X and @voteno_on3 on Instagram.