Trump signals support for marijuana legalization in Florida

Miami: Former President Donald Trump on Saturday signaled his support for a ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana in Florida, stopping short of a full endorsement but saying he did not believe marijuana should be criminalized in his adopted home state when it is legal in others.

In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump portrayed the passage of the ballot measure, known as Amendment 3, as inevitable and raised concerns about its implementation. Public opinion polls show that a majority of Florida voters favor the measure.

“Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the Voters, so it should be done correctly,” Trump said. “We need the State Legislature to responsibly create laws that prohibit the use of it in public spaces, so we do not smell marijuana everywhere we go, like we do in many of the Democrat run Cities.”

Trump, who votes near his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, had previously avoided taking a position on the question. His position pits him against Gov. Ron DeSantis and most of the state’s Republican leaders, who are working to defeat the proposal.

Trump’s statement appeared to walk a line meant to keep him from fully upsetting those opposed to the measure. He did not say how he personally would vote on Amendment 3, and he did not explicitly back the legalization of marijuana, even as he again suggested he supported decriminalizing it.

“Someone should not be a criminal in Florida, when this is legal in so many other States,” he said. “We do not need to ruin lives & waste Taxpayer Dollars arresting adults with personal amounts of it on them, and no one should grieve a loved one because they died from fentanyl laced marijuana.”

Still, activists backing Amendment 3 praised Trump’s support for their effort. Smart and Safe Florida, the campaign working to pass the ballot measure, said in a statement that Trump agreed with its views that Florida must “put an end to the arrest and incarceration of adults for simple possession of marijuana.”

Florida has been trending Republican, but polls show that Amendment 3 is more popular in the state than even Trump is — indicating that many voters intend to split their ticket and vote both for the former president and for marijuana legalization.