By admin 
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Less than a week before the November general election, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited West Palm Beach on Wednesday, making a final push against controversial Amendment 3, which if passed would ban recreational marijuana would legalize in the United States. stands.
“It will impact the quality of life in the state of Florida,” DeSantis argued during a roundtable discussion with members of the Florida Department of Children and Families and the Florida Police Benevolent Association.
WATCH: Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks out against Amendment 3
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks out against Amendment 3 in West Palm Beach
If passed with at least 60% of the vote next Tuesday, Amendment 3 would allow adults over the age of 21 in Florida to purchase, possess and use marijuana without a medical card.
Supporters said it will make a substance that many people already use safer and better regulated, while also generating revenue for the state.
Speaking in West Palm Beach on Wednesday, DeSantis, who strongly opposed the amendment, urged residents to vote against the measure, saying the lack of restrictions on where marijuana can be used in public could undermine would affect the quality of life of Florida residents.
“You should be able to be on the beach, you should be able to walk down the street, you should be able to be in public places without this permeating everywhere,” DeSantis said. “There is nothing in this amendment that restricts the use of marijuana in public.”
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Smart & Safe Florida, the group that sponsored Amendment 3, estimates that Florida would receive an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales. That’s one reason why a bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers has supported the idea.
However, DeSantis pushed back against that idea on Wednesday, saying increased public marijuana use could deter tourists from visiting Florida and harm one of our most critical economic drivers.
“What do you lose in tourism? What do you lose in restaurants? What do you lose in other things because this is now a part of Florida in a way that might be off-putting to a lot of tourists? That could be off-putting And so I think the Tourism revenues will also drop. And I think other business revenues will drop as well. So in my opinion, this would definitely be a net loss for the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.
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Kim Rivers, the CEO of Trulieve, Florida’s largest medical marijuana operator with more than 150 stores statewide, which has pumped $141 million into the effort to pass Amendment 3, toured the state earlier this month to discuss the strict show safety measures Florida has for medical cannabis. In Tallahassee, Rivers said she wants the same guardrails for recreational use.
“These rules would apply to, and we expect those rules will apply to, the adult-use market as well,” Rivers said. “So we have a framework. We’re not building from scratch.”
Rivers cited data showing that teen marijuana use is actually declining with legalization, suggesting better regulation means better access, with fewer people using the cannabis illegally.
But DeSantis argued Wednesday that Trulieve, a publicly traded company on the Canadian Stock Exchange, will benefit financially from the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“As a publicly traded company, you couldn’t spend $141.9 million of corporate funds on an amendment unless you would benefit greatly from it,” DeSantis said. “In other words, they can’t write an amendment that’s good for Florida, or that’s good for other people. It has to be beneficial for their business.”
A new poll from the University of North Florida shows that about 66% of Floridians who participated in the survey plan to vote “yes” on Amendment 3, passing the necessary 60% threshold .
However, a new poll from the Florida Chamber found support for Amendment 3 at 57%.