For Immediate Release: October 10, 2024
New Smart & Safe Florida Ad Shares Truth on Smoking Regulation
As State Sen. Joe Gruters says in “Blowing Smoke,” Florida can regulate public smoking
(Orlando, FL) – Smart & Safe Florida today released “Blowing Smoke,” a new ad featuring Republican State Sen. Joe Gruters, cutting through the misinformation about what will and won’t happen once Amendment 3 passes this November.
What WILL happen: Florida will be safer, as adults will gain access to lab-tested marijuana while freeing up time, resources and funding for law enforcement to target violent crime, not petty possession charges.
What WON’T happen: Public smoking. The Florida Legislature is empowered to regulate where and when adults can smoke marijuana in public, just like has been done with cigarettes and alcohol. This is something Sen. Gruters knows personally, after he championed a bill signed in 2022 that empowered local governments to regulate smoking on beaches and in parks. Additionally, Sen. Gruters has already drafted a bill to be filed in the 2025 legislative session that will ban public smoking of all substances, including marijuana.
“Blowing Smoke” can be viewed HERE.
“The truth is central to this campaign, and as we approach Election Day, it’s important for us to call out which arguments are simply blowing smoke,” said Morgan Hill, spokesperson for Smart & Safe Florida. “Instead of arguing in good-faith, opponents of Amendment 3 are using scare tactics to keep Floridians from enjoying the same individual freedoms and access to safe, lab-tested marijuana that over half the country, in 24 states and D.C., already enjoys.”
Additional information on the Legislature’s authority to regulate Amendment 3:
1. The provision they cite is from the Medical Marijuana Amendment language:
The provision they cite is not a ban on smoking medical marijuana in public, rather, it merely states that the amendment shall not require any accommodation of smoking medical marijuana in public.
The provision reads: (c)(6) Nothing in this section shall require any accommodation of any on-site medical use of marijuana in any correctional institution or detention facility or place of education or employment, or of smoking medical marijuana in any public place.” Not making an accommodation is not the same things as regulation.
That provision actually preserves the Legislature’s ability to regulate smoking medical marijuana in public. The Legislature exercised its authority to expressly penalize the use of medical marijuana “in plain view of or in a place open to the general public; in a school bus, a vehicle, an aircraft, or a boat; or on the grounds of a school…” Section 381.986(12)(c) (under “Penalties). This provision clearly covers smoking medical marijuana in public.
2. The opposition purposefully left out the clear language of Amendment 3 authorizing the Legislature to regulate smoking. The opposition’s argument is absurd and contrary to both the ballot language and long-established Florida law.
Amendment 3 ballot language explicitly states: “Nothing in this amendment prohibits the Legislature from enacting laws that are consistent with this amendment.”
The Legislature has broad discretion using its “Police Powers” to regulate the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of Floridians. The Florida Legislature has the authority to regulate conduct in order to promote “the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the citizens of the state of Florida.” Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering Dept. of Business Regulation v. Florida Horse Council, Inc., 464 So.2d 128, 130 (Fla. 1985) (upholding Sunday racing and betting restrictions as lawful use of police powers by Legislature); see also Thompson v. State, 392 So.2d 1317, 1318 (Fla.1981) (“police power is the sovereign right of the State to enact laws for the protection of lives, health, morals, comfort and general welfare.”). In exercising its “police powers,” courts have recognized that the Legislature has a “broad range of discretion in its choice of ways and means by which it will enhance the public good and welfare.” Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assoc. v. Florida Div. of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, Dep’t of Business Reg., 397 So. 2d 692, 694-95 (Fla. 1981); see also Burnside v. Seaboard Coastline Railroad Co., 290 So. 2d 13, 18 (Fla. 1974) (noting that “a great deal of discretion is vested in the Legislature to determine public interest and measures for its protection.”).
Read more about the Legislature’s ability to regulate Amendment 3:
- Tampa Bay Times Op-Ed by Glenn Burhans Jr. and John Bash: Here’s how Florida’s cannabis amendment balances freedom and regulation
- Miami Herald Editorial Board: Stinky Florida? DeSantis paints scary picture of weed amendment but misses key point
- FreedomDoesntStink.com
