DeSantis-Appointed Official Claims Florida Marijuana Legalization Would Increase Crime And Prison Population

Advocates are pushing back against the head of Florida’s correctional department after he claimed that passing a marijuana legalization initiative at the ballot this November would actually “increase” the state’s prison population—a paradoxical assertion that’s being promoted by top staff of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

In an op-ed published in The Tampa Bay Times on Monday, Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon said the debate over the cannabis measure, Amendment 3, has been “marked by significant misinformation regarding Florida’s prison system.”

“Various false claims have emerged suggesting that many inmates are serving time solely for low-level marijuana offenses,” he said. “These assertions are untrue, and in some cases, intentionally disingenuous.”

Dixon said there are currently no people imprisoned over simple possession of under 20 grams alone, and fewer than 40 who are serving time for possessing larger quantities of cannabis, with enhanced penalties connected to other offenses such as battery.

He also claimed that “Florida state law does not permit a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession of 20 grams or less alone to lead to incarceration in a state prison.”

It’s unclear if he’s referring to an administrative policy, as state statute says possession up to 20 grams of cannabis is considered a “misdemeanor of the first degree,” which is punishable by up to one year in prison. Marijuana Moment reached out to the Florida Department of Corrections for clarification, but a representative did not respond by the time of publication.

The legalization initiative that’s going before voters would allow adults to possess up to three ounces of cannabis, or about 85 grams.

Brian Griffin, communications director for DeSantis, was among those to promote the corrections secretary’s op-ed, saying in a social media post that cannabis companies and media “twist the facts” around the criminal justice implications of the reform.

Big marijuana corporations & their media supporters twist the facts.
Read below from FL's Secretary of @FL_Corrections:
"As can be easily verified by our database, there are NO inmates serving time exclusively for possessing 20g or less of marijuana."https://t.co/x1ehIG91bz

— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) August 13, 2024

Christina Pushaw, who rejoined the DeSantis administration as a senior analyst after serving a stint as a rapid response director during the governor’s failed 2024 presidential campaign, also shared the opinion piece.

“Florida doesn’t need Amendment 3,” she said.

“The narrative being promoted by some activists that individuals are imprisoned solely for minor marijuana possession is a lie” @FL_Corrections Secretary

👇Just the facts. Florida doesn’t need Amendment 3. #DontCaliforniaMyFlorida https://t.co/h3qM3xR2rV

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) August 12, 2024

For advocates, one of the main criminal justice reform benefits of passing the measure is that it would become legal to buy and possess that amount of marijuana. While people might not be currently incarcerated over low-level possession, according to the secretary, the fact that it remains a misdemeanor means people continue to face arrests, criminal records and collateral consequences.

“In the state of Florida, you can be arrested for any amount of marijuana. Felonies begin at 20 grams of flower, but possession of any amount of marijuana oil could lead to a felony charge,” Morgan Hill, spokesperson for the Smart & Safe Florida campaign behind the legalization initiative, told Marijuana Moment.

“Any marijuana related arrest negatively impacts a person’s life, making it harder to get a job, go to school, and get ahead,” she said. “By legalizing adult use recreational marijuana, Amendment 3 will put an end to arrests for simple possession of marijuana and end the unnecessary cycle of jail and imprisonment for marijuana possession in Florida.”

Dixon, for his part, said in the op-ed that with almost 30 years in the corrections system, “I have witnessed firsthand the complexities and challenges present in our criminal justice system.”

 “Substance abuse, including marijuana, exacerbates criminal behavior.”

If Amendment 3 is approved, he said “it is highly likely that we will see an increase in our state’s prison population thanks to increased crime surrounding the legalization of marijuana,” making the contested argument that the reform leads to increased traffic fatalities and hospitalizations.

“Expanding the prison capacity in our state would necessitate substantial financial investments to manage the increased burden being placed on our institutions,” he said. “It is crucial for Floridians to fully understand the negative implications of Amendment 3 before they go to the ballot box this November.”

Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, told Marijuana Moment that the secretary’s claims don’t add up.

“Florida state law is clear. Low-level marijuana possession is defined as a criminal misdemeanor punishable by up to one-year incarceration,” he said. “Possessing more than 20 grams of cannabis is a felony offense, punishable by up to five years incarceration.”

“Given that tens of thousands of Floridians are arrested for marijuana-related charges annually, it stretches the bounds of credibility to believe these claims by the secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections,” he said. “It becomes even harder to do so when one recognizes that the state has a long history of either not reporting or under-reporting the size and scope of cannabis enforcement in the Sunshine State.”

The op-ed comes as advocates and stakeholders await a statement about the legalization measure from former President Donald Trump, a Florida resident who recently indicated he disagrees with criminalizing people over cannabis as more states enact legalization and who said he’d be weighing in on Amendment 3 “fairly soon.”

Roger Stone, a longtime Trump ally and GOP political operative, told Marijuana Moment on Monday that if the Republican nominee does ultimately endorse the initiative, that would “guarantee victory.”

Notably, pro-legalization U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said this past week that he intends to vote against the ballot initiative, arguing that the reform should be enacted legislatively via statute and not as a constitutional amendment that would create barriers to adjusting the law down the road.

Meanwhile, a hedge fund billionaire announced earlier this month that he’s spending $20 million “in support of candidates and to oppose Amendment 3.” Of that, a $12 million donation will go directly to the Vote No on 3 campaign.

Overall, there’s been a mixed bag of supports and opponents of the legalization measure. For example, a Florida GOP senator recently endorsed the ballot initiative, breaking with the state Republican party that he previously chaired.

The Florida Republican Party officially came out against the marijuana initiative in May, clearing the way for the governor to raise money to fund an opposition campaign against the measure.

According to the latest polling, the initiative does have enough support to pass, with majority support across every demographic surveyed. Overall, 64 percent of voters said they backed the proposal, surpassing the 60 percent threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment.

One opposition campaign, Vote No On 3, also recently commissioned a poll on the measure that similarly found 64 percent of voters in favor of the reform.

Meanwhile, the GOP state senator’s endorsement of the legalization measure came one day after the Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) and the Florida Sheriffs Association (FSA) both came out against Amendment 3. They argued that the reform would cause increases in youth use, impaired driving, illicit operations and tax costs for residents, citing dubious evidence.

Last month, the governor also lashed out against Amendment 3 at the Republican National Convention, making hyperbolic claims about what the reform would allow—claims backers say are “absolutely untrue.”

DeSantis called the proposed constitutional amendment “limitless,” arguing that it would establish a right to marijuana that would be more fundamental than First Amendment or Second Amendment protections for free speech and guns, respectively.

Speaking at a recent police event, DeSantis falsely claimed that most Colorado voters “regret” approving marijuana legalization. In fact, recent polling shows that the reform continues to enjoy strong support there.

Last month, news broke that DeSantis’s so-called “Florida Freedom Fund” received a $100,000 donation from the cannabis company group POB Ventures in order to help defeat the marijuana and abortion proposals. That amount was nearly ten times what the campaign had raised in total at the beginning of July.

In an exclusive interview with Marijuana Moment, the CEO of POB Ventures, Patrick O’Brien, said he’s not against adult-use cannabis legalization in principle—but is instead troubled by the specific language of the ballot initiative because it provides an option, rather than a mandate, for regulators to approve additional licenses.

Suspicions about the motivations behind the contribution to DeSantis’s PAC aren’t likely to dissolve, especially amid new reporting from CBS News Miami that unnamed hemp businesses have joined forces to back DeSantis in his fight against the legalization measure, with a pledge to contribute $5 million collectively to the state Republican Party after the governor vetoed the bill that ostensibly would have wiped out the market by banning most consumable cannabinoid products.

It’s been previously reported that the governor is hoping to garner support for his efforts to defeat the marijuana legalization initiative from the state’s hemp industry. DeSantis seemed to concede in June that his veto of a bill to ban most consumable hemp-derived cannabinoids was at least partly because he hoped the market would aid in his anti-legalization campaign.

The DeSantis campaign committee, even with the recent contributions, is still miles behind the legalization campaign, Smart & Safe Florida, in terms of fundraising. The legalization effort has raised over $60 million since launching in late 2022.

DeSantis has been railing against the marijuana measure for months—most recently arguing that it would protect the right to use cannabis more strongly than the First Amendment protects free speech or the Second Amendment protects gun rights—and again claiming that the reform has been a “failed experiment” in states such as Colorado.

The governor said that the proposal would allow people to “do marijuana wherever you want—just smoke it, take it, and it would turn Florida into San Francisco or Chicago or some of these places.”

He also reprised one of his chief complaints about the potential impact of legalization: smelling cannabis.

“We’ve got to keep our streets clean. We cannot have every town smelling like marijuana. We cannot have every hotel smelling—theme parks,” he said, adding that voters don’t really understand the specifics of the legalization proposal and that ballot initiatives are generally “so bogus.”

DeSantis acknowledged that the state Supreme Court has a role in reviewing ballot language for constitutionality, and that a majority of justices determined that the marijuana measure met the legal standard. But while he previously correctly predicted the court would approve the initiative following a challenge from state Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), he now says the two dissenting justices were “correct” in trying to block voters from deciding on the measure.

DeSantis also claimed in June that that if voters approve the marijuana legalization initiative, people “will be able to bring 20 joints to an elementary school”—and he again complained about the prevalent odor of cannabis that he says would result from the reform.

Legalization has “not worked in any single place,” the governor said, and he challenged a recent ad from the campaign that promoted regulating cannabis as an alternative to the status quo of people using untested cannabis from illicit sellers.

Meanwhile, according to a Fox News poll released in June, two in three Florida voters support the cannabis initiative—with the issue proving more popular than the governor himself. The survey showed majority support for legalization across the political spectrum, too.

The governor has consistently argued that the state shouldn’t go beyond the existing medical cannabis program and that broader reform would negatively impact the quality of life for Floridians. The Florida Republican Party also formally came out against Amendment 3 in May.

Smart & Safe Florida separately announced in March that it was working to form a coalition of veterans to build voter support for the reform, and the campaign has since formally launched that initiative.

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Here’s what the Smart & Safe Florida marijuana legalization initiative would accomplish:

• Adults 21 and older could purchase and possess up to three ounces of cannabis for personal use. The cap for marijuana concentrates would be five grams.
• Medical cannabis dispensaries could “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute marijuana products and marijuana accessories to adults for personal use.”
• The legislature would be authorized—but not required—to approve additional entities that are not currently licensed cannabis dispensaries.
• The initiative specifies that nothing in the proposal prevents the legislature from “enacting laws that are consistent with this amendment.”
• The amendment further clarifies that nothing about the proposal “changes federal law,” which seems to be an effort to avoid past legal challenges about misleading ballot language.
• There are no provisions for home cultivation, expungement of prior records or social equity.
• The measure would take effect six months following approval by voters.

Here’s the full text of the ballot title and summary:

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