Hemp sector and DeSantis team up against a marijuana ballot proposal

Together, the state Republican Party, the growing Florida hemp sector, and Governor Ron DeSantis are working to thwart a recreational marijuana legalization initiative that will be on the ballot in November.

DeSantis vetoed a bill in early June that, among other things, would have made essential cannabinoids illegal and so rendered substantial portions of the hemp sector unviable. And now, the business is funding both the Republican Party of Florida and DeSantis’ political committee in an effort to oppose the recreational marijuana bill, which is supported by Trulieve, the biggest marijuana corporation in the country and the state.

But according to J.D. McCormick, president of Florida Healthy Alternatives Association, one of the biggest hemp organizations in the state, the collaboration is more of a natural occurrence than a result of a planned effort.

Florida would currently have an illegal hemp business if Governor DeSantis hadn’t been elected. If the marijuana amendment is approved, Trulieve would then go on to create a monopoly, according to McCormick. It’s just how things naturally unfold. We are going to try to battle them on the amendment now that we are still alive.

According to McCormick, the main way Florida Healthy Alternatives is opposing the marijuana amendment is by collecting money for the state Republican Party’s Vote No campaign. It’s an organic partnership: Florida Healthy Alternatives is lobbied by the executive director and chairman of the state Republican Party.

McCormick, whose organization primarily represents small firms threatened by Trulieve, compared the relationship between the hemp industry and Trulieve to that of David and Goliath. He predicted that the legalization of marijuana for recreational use will “squeeze” out the hemp industry, which markets goods related to marijuana such as candies, vape pens, and delta-8 joints.

According to McCormick, Trulieve backed the hemp bill’s passing, which hurt the hemp sector as well. In a June press conference, DeSantis made the same statement. Although Capital City Consulting filed a disclosure with the state house indicating that they might lobby on behalf of Trulieve on the House companion measure, the consulting firm’s co-owner, Nick Iarossi, said the company never took a stand on the issue or engaged in any lobbying on it. Lobbyists frequently register their interest in a measure they are keeping an eye on, he added.

“Bringing safe, legal marijuana to adults in Florida is our primary goal,” stated Steve Vancore, a spokesman for Trulieve, in a statement. “Our objective is to remove hazardous, unregulated products from the market and to stop making criminal arrests for minor possession offenses. Exactly.

The governor vetoed the hemp measure because it “would impose debilitating regulatory burdens on small businesses, as he made clear in his veto letter,” according to an email from DeSantis’ office. The governor did not do this because he struck a deal with the hemp industry.

Much of the same was stated by Evan Power, a lobbyist for Florida Healthy Alternatives and the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

“A deal on the legislation was not reached. Power stated, “It’s clear that we worked to have the bill vetoed in order to protect small businesses, and we were happy that the governor did so.”

The Vote No campaign has begun, according to Power, who also stated that the Republican Party of Florida has formally declared its opposition to the marijuana amendment. “We have material out to our counties now to oppose it and we will be active in opposing,” Power added.

A COALITION FORMS

Power and Republican Party of Florida Executive Director Bill Helmich was hired by Florida Healthy Alternatives in January to represent the hemp organization in the most recent legislative session.

Some lawmakers claimed they had not expected the business to grow the way it has when they passed the laws banning hemp goods this year. (The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp by removing it from the Controlled Substances Act’s definition of marijuana, and the Legislature approved its regulation in 2019)

Rep. Tommy Gregory, a Republican from Lakewood Ranch who is sponsoring a bill in the House, claimed he and his colleagues were “duped” into thinking the hemp market would be mostly used for industrial uses like producing textiles.

Rather, “they’re using hemp products to make intoxicating substances,” according to Gregory.

According to McCormick, Power arranged a meeting between his office and the governor’s office for April following the Legislature’s passage of SB 1698, the hemp legislation.

It was informative, according to McCormick. “I expressed all of my worries.”

Additionally, McCormick led a campaign that resulted in 14,000 handwritten letters from hemp users, distributors, growers, and retailers pleading with the governor to veto the law, according to him. Only 65 emails were received in favor of the law, according to the governor’s office, out of 7,651 that were sent against it.

In a letter to Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd last month, DeSantis vetoed the bill, claiming that it would “introduce dramatic disruption and harm to many small retail manufacturing businesses in Florida — businesses that have emerged due to recent legislation paving the way for the commercial use of hemp.”

DeSantis provided more details about his bill veto in a June Miami press conference.

“This hemp bill was requested by the marijuana business. DeSantis stated, “They wanted to be able to pass Amendment 3 [recreational marijuana] and they wanted to be able to restrict that industry.” “The issue with that is if that passes, the entire state will smell like marijuana.”

Regarding the marijuana amendment, DeSantis went on, saying, “This thing needs to go down.” The thing must fall heavily. However, I wouldn’t say that was the main justification for the veto of the hemp measure. The main one, I would say, was that I felt compelled to defend Florida’s little companies.

According to a CBS News story on Thursday, hemp CEOs promised to raise $5 million to oppose the marijuana amendment if DeSantis rejected the law. The Save Florida Hemp WhatsApp chat group served as the source of the report’s messages.

Campaign finance records indicate that on June 25, Patrick O’Brien, a hemp farmer located Florida Apopka, gave $100,000 to DeSantis’ political committee, which was partly formed to oppose the recreational marijuana amendment. O’Brien was unavailable for comment.

Florida Healthy Alternatives’ president, McCormick, claimed that although O’Brien wasn’t a member of the organization, he was an acquaintance.

McCormick remarked, “It looks like he has a hemp business that’s fighting for their lives.” “The majority of our association’s members, for whom we fight, have remarkably similar backgrounds.”