Hemp Donations Fuel DeSantis And Florida GOP's Charge Against Weed Legalization, New Findings

As Americans head to the polls on November 5 to elect a new president, Floridians will also weigh in on cannabis legalization. Gov. Ron DeSantis has been leading the anti-marijuana charge in the months-long heated debate.

The governor and the Republican Party of Florida have found a common bond with hemp companies that already sell high-potency cannabis to Floridians, at least when it comes to opposing the proposed constitutional amendment, known as Amendment 3, to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida.

According to a Miami Herald/Times investigation, the Republican Party of Florida and a political committee run by DeSantis' chief of staff have acquired donations from such businesses after the governor vetoed a bill in June that would have banned certain intoxicating hemp-derived products. That bill would have outlawed the sale of products containing delta-8 THC and limited the amount of delta-9 THC, both of which are unregulated and widely available, including to minors.

Following DeSantis’s veto, hemp executives pledged up to $5 million in donations to the Republican Party in support of the governor's effort to defeat Amendment 3, according to WhatsApp messages reviewed by CBS News Miami in July.

The Herald/Times investigation also revealed that some hemp products from companies donating to DeSantis tested above the legal THC limit (0.3%) and contained unauthorized or banned pesticides.

Political contributions from these hemp businesses totaled over $500,000, with notable donations from companies whose products, which were tested by the Herald/Times, were found to exceed THC limits.

Matthew Curran, director of the state Department of Agriculture's Division of Food Safety said the Herald/Times' findings "appear to be consistent with what we regularly identify in our testing program." Since June 2023, over 1.1 million packages of hemp products on store shelves were found to violate the state law before being pulled, Curran added.

Read Also: Trump, Harris And DeSantis Face Off On Cannabis Legalization In Florida And Beyond

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Weed Legalization A Threat To Hemp Businesses

The unified front against Amendment 3 argues the policy change would harm small businesses involved in the cultivation, distribution and sale of hemp statewide.

Meanwhile, with Trulieve Cannabis Corp. TRUL TCNNF – which donated up to $130 million to the legalization campaign Smart & Safe Florida– many hemp businesses say they have sustainability concerns if policy change is enacted.

"I don't have the tens of millions of dollars Trulieve has to fight this," said Patrick O'Brien, owner of Chronic Guru farms and dispensaries who gave $100,000 to a political committee run by DeSantis’ chief of staff. "I got a grassroots company with over a hundred team members currently that I'm responsible for and I figured that I would partner up with the loudest voice in the room."

DeSantis also argued legalization of recreational cannabis would be a threat to public health and would also make the Sunshine State smell like marijuana.

The findings uncovered by the Herald/Times investigation are in line with national tensions between hemp and marijuana legalization efforts.

Recently, California Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s emergency ban on all hemp-derived THC products became official. The move halted the sale of hemp products, including popular items like hemp-THC beverages and medicinal CBD products, throughout the Golden State, where recreational cannabis has been legal for years.

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