(Bloomberg) -- Florida voters rejected a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana, dealing a blow to the cannabis industry and giving a win to the leading opponents: Governor Ron DeSantis and billionaire Ken Griffin.
Known as Amendment 3, the measure was leading by 55.7% to 44.3% with 90% of the vote counted, according the Associated Press. That failed to clear the 60% threshold for approval required by Florida law.
Legalizing recreational marijuana for Florida’s 23 million residents — plus millions of tourists annually — would have been a huge win for the cannabis industry, and specifically Trulieve Cannabis Corp., which contributed about $145 million to the campaign and forecast as many as 2.7 million people would take part in the legal weed market. With Florida on board, about 60% of the US population would have access to recreational weed, which advocates said would make national legalization more likely.
The massive influx of cash wasn’t enough to offset efforts by DeSantis to defeat the measure. The Republican governor went on a crusade against it, diverting millions in state funds to the effort. He and his wife, Casey, held press conferences with law enforcement officials where they decried the smell of marijuana and what they said was the drug’s potential to increase crime.
The governor found an ally in Griffin, the finance titan and transplant from Chicago. Griffin donated $12 million to the anti-pot cause and was the only large individual donor. All told, DeSantis and anti-weed advocates drummed up $26 million to fight the measure.
The fight over recreational marijuana created some odd bedfellows. Donald Trump, a Florida resident, said he would be voting yes and his ally Roger Stone advocated for the measure. John Morgan, a celebrity personal injury lawyer and longtime Democratic donor, created an alter-ego to promote marijuana in Florida, branding himself as “Pot Daddy.”
(Updates with results in second paragraph)
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