'Make It Legal' committee pushes for marijuana legalization in Florida

Frank Gluck

The campaign to legalize marijuana for adult, recreational use in Florida has for years remained an under-funded longshot despite the state’s successful medical cannabis industry and polls showing strong public support for such a measure.

Now, in a potential game-changer for that effort, California-based MedMen, a major cannabis industry player, is backing a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize the drug in Florida in 2020.

The chairman of its newly created political committee, "Make it Legal," says it can easily raise the millions needed to collect the required 766,200 signatures to get it on the ballot.

“We've really seen a shift in people's attitudes and acceptance of this over the last few years, especially the last 14 months or so. So now seems like the appropriate time," said Nick Hansen, chairman of Make It Legal and MedMen's director of governmental affairs in the southeast United States. "Because, quite frankly, people don't want to wait. This is something a majority of Floridians believe we should have access to."

Their plan would allow adults 21 years and older to “possess, use, purchase, display and transport” a maximum 2.5 ounces of marijuana – a felony amount under current Florida law – and to possess “marijuana accessories” for any reason.

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Retailers would be required to package such materials in “clearly labeled and childproof” containers and would be prohibited from marketing them to minors. It would also allow the state to bar personal marijuana use in designated public spaces.

MedMen operates 37 retail locations in 12 states. Its Florida holdings now amount to one retail store in West Palm Beach and a delivery service in Orlando, though it has plans for at least a dozen more sites in the state.

As of this week, no signatures had been collected for a proposed constitutional amendment.

But Hansen said that will start soon and he believes that paid signature collectors will have no problem meeting the state’s February deadline to get it on the ballot.

Hansen also said MedMen is in private talks with unspecified medical marijuana providers in Florida to help with the effort. Leading companies in the state, including Surterra, Curaleaf and Trulieve, did not immediately comment about MedMen's efforts.

John Morgan

John Morgan, the Orlando attorney who bankrolled and was the public face of the amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana in Florida – after getting 71% of the vote in 2016 – has come out publicly in support of the cannabis industry plan, which could also help with that effort.

In an interview with the USA TODAY Network-Florida, Morgan said he believes Make It Legal, backed by industry dollars, has the best chance of success in 2020.

"When you have a big problem, you have to solve it with big money," he said. "It's just a numbers game. The more you pay, the more you get. So if you start ratcheting up what you'll pay somebody per signature (collected), you know, hell, there'll be people who will come out of retirement to collect signatures."

Regulate Florida, a pro-cannabis group that has tried for years to get a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational marijuana on the Florida ballot, is not part of the new effort.

Michael Minardi, the Tampa attorney behind Regulate Florida, said Friday that he is disappointed that the industry legalization plan does not address home cultivation of cannabis, protections for Florida workers and gun owners using cannabis, and has nothing that would promote “mom and pop” marijuana businesses.

“Whether I will ultimately support the amendment is up to the people of Florida,” Minardi wrote in a text. “If people want to send a message to us and the people behind the new amendment, the best way to do so is to donate to Regulate Florida now.”

Regulate Florida has collected more than 85,000 signatures for the 2020 ballot and expects to soon reach 100,000, Minardi said.

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Hansen, of MedMen and Make It Legal, said he believes the new proposal, modeled on the successful 2016 amendment broadly legalizing medical marijuana in Florida, could better withstand any potential legal challenges.

Medical marijuana is wildly popular with Floridians and, polls show, so is the idea of legalizing cannabis for adult recreational use.

A Quinnipiac poll released this summer shows that 65% of Florida voters support legalizing recreational marijuana – an “all-time high” in pro-pot sentiment, according to the organization.

Any constitutional amendment must win at least 60% of the vote to pass in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who dropped the state’s legal challenge against allowing smokable medical marijuana products shortly after taking office, has said he opposes legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

His office did not comment this week when asked about the new proposed constitutional amendment.
Industry insiders predict that recreational marijuana will eventually be a multi-billion-dollar industry in Florida.

Medical marijuana has already become a booming industry, according to a 2019 report conducted for Leafly.com, a marijuana trade website. According to that report, Florida grew its cannabis employment by 703% in 2018, resulting in more than 9,000 full-time jobs.

As of this week, nearly 260,000 Floridians qualified to purchase and use medical marijuana products. The state is also now home to 155 retail dispensaries.