Florida lawmakers divided on recreational marijuana legalization

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – The hot topic of legalizing recreational marijuana has prompted lots of discussion and misinformation.

State Representative Grif Griffitts addressed some of the misconceptions.

“It does not allow you to grow it at home and it has to be purchased through licensed dispensaries or those folks who have the medical marijuana license in the state of Florida. So, it’s not complete legalization. I think there’s a kind of a perception that this is Colorado or California legalization and it’s really not,” District 6 Rep. Grif Griffitts said.

Smart and Safe Florida is sponsoring the initiative. It would allow adults 21 or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and accessories recreationally.

It reached the ballot as a citizen-initiated amendment.

“Clearly, the Republican Party in the state of Florida is having some issues are kind of split on it. There are some folks that are in support of it and there’s some folks that are completely against it,” Griffitts said.

One of those is local state senator Jay Trumbull.

“It’s a pretty broad amendment. And I’m personally going to vote “no” on the amendment,” Trumbull said.

Trumbull admits Florida has come a long way with medical marijuana use, but he isn’t interested in someone smoking recreationally, in parks, or Panama City Beach.

“It is not a true clean amendment that I think and I really do believe will be detrimental to our state,” Trumbull said.

The Florida legislature would retain full authority to regulate public use of marijuana, protecting clean, family-friendly public spaces. There is also disagreement over the economic impact of recreational marijuana.

“You could tax marijuana, which would be… some of the reports I’ve seen are billions of dollars in revenue a year. And if we could make sure that that revenue is is you know, there’s a nexus in what it’s being used for. If we’re going to do this and treat it correctly, we should take that money and spend it on appropriate measures, real appropriate measures that benefit the state and the people in the state,” Griffitts said.

Griffitts would support the tax revenue going to public education.

Trumbull remains firmly opposed regarding economic benefits.

“Florida has led and continues to lead on funding for education and school choice. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. And so I think that you know, saying that recreational use of marijuana is going to somehow, you know, increase both of those things, I think is flawed,” Trumbull said.

We’ll be previewing the remaining 4 amendments in the days leading up to October 21st when early voting starts.

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