The campaign behind a Florida marijuana legalization ballot initiative “tricked” President Donald Trump into endorsing the reform, a state GOP senator says.
Sen. Jon Martin (R) claimed in an interview with Florida’s Voice that the Smart & Safe Florida campaign deliberately misled the public about the cannabis initiative, which received a majority of the vote last November but not enough to be enacted.
Specifically, he pointed to a “massive loophole” in the proposal that he said would have stripped the legislature of the ability to impose restrictions on public consumption.
“Medical marijuana could be banned as far as smoking in public, but not recreational marijuana,” Martin said. “It was a huge glitch.”
The senator said “the lawyers that put that on the ballot basically cost their client $100 million because that’s how much Smart & Safe Florida spent to advocate—actually more than that—for Amendment 3.” He was referencing the multi-state cannabis operator Trulieve that provided the lion’s share of donations to the legalization push.
He also pointed to the fact that a revised version of the marijuana initiative that was filed this month, with hopes of making the 2026 ballot, now specifically states that the “smoking and vaping of marijuana in any public place is prohibited” as evidence that the 2024 measure was misleading.
WATCH: Sen. @JonMartinEsq reveals how Trump was “tricked” into supporting marijuana legalization pic.twitter.com/xDdqFQb3ni
— Florida’s Voice w/ Drew Steele (@FLVoiceRadio) January 24, 2025
“That proves that they screwed up and they almost pulled one in under us,” he said. “They tricked Donald Trump into endorsing it. There were a lot of people that fell for that trick. So they reworded it clearly to avoid that.”
Ahead of the election, Trump said in September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.
“We can live with the marijuana,” he said. “It’s got to be a certain age [to purchase]. It’s got to be done in a very concerted, lawful way. And the way they’re doing it in Florida, I think is going to be actually good. It’s going to be very good, but it’s got to be done in a good way. It’s got to be done in a clean way.”
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Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.
“Like any major policy decision, he’s going to get input from lots of people, but I’m thankful to be in the circle where I could offer my opinion, and I think he values it,” Sen. Joe Gruters (R) told Marijuana Moment following the meeting.
While Trump endorsed the Florida cannabis initiative—as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access—he has since been silent on cannabis issues. And his cabinet choices have mixed records on marijuana policy.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a recent report that it “remains to be seen” how Trump will navigate marijuana policy in his second term, and it’s “unknown” whether the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will finalize a proposed rule to reschedule cannabis.
Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore.
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