Image courtesy Pixabay.

The last 10 years could be viewed as the marijuana decade in Florida, an outcome all the more likely if voters on Nov. 5 legalize weed for recreational use by adults.

The vote comes 10 years after voters nixed a 2014 medical marijuana event and eight years after voters went ahead and embraced prescription cannabis just two years later. The issue rises again at a time when dispensaries can be found nearby in any Florida community.

With a scent once prominent in college dorms now equally detectable in senior centers, most polling shows Amendment 3 headed toward passage. But the tale of the 2014 amendment’s failure should loom large for those feeling fatigued by campaigning 10 days out from the general election.

It was in the final weeks Florida’s original medical marijuana measure fell apart, thanks to an aggressive anti-pot campaign on TV and assisted by an embarrassing video of “Potdaddy” attorney John Morgan, of “For The People” fame, drunkenly appealing to 20-something voters that seemed to undercut the medical-only nature of the pot debate at the time. Two years later, the follow-up marijuana campaign had fewer mishaps and was helped by higher turnout in a presidential election year.

This go-around, the campaign also takes place as voters elect a new president. Morgan hasn’t been as prevalent a face of the pot movement. Actually, Sarasota state Sen. Joe Gruters, a former Republican Party of Florida chair, enjoys a greater presence in statewide ads supporting Amendment 3.

But the most outspoken voice may be on the other side. Gov. Ron DeSantis will spend coming days devoting his campaign energy almost exclusively toward stopping the pro-weed Amendment 3 and the pro-abortion rights Amendment 4.

The push against pot should be a reminder Amendment 3’s passage is no sure thing. Florida law requires 60% of voters to support amendments for them to pass. That’s a higher percentage of the vote than DeSantis received in 2022 when he won re-election over Democrat Charlie Crist by a once-unthinkable-in-Florida 19-point landslide.

Recreational weed needs to be more popular than any gubernatorial candidate has been in Florida since the late Democratic Gov. Bob Graham won re-election in 1982.

Of note, the Gruters-DeSantis difference of opinion on the issue has been central in the last weeks of the campaign. That’s mostly because of some intellectual dishonesty by the Governor that Gruters has effectively underlined.

DeSantis continues to insist the amendment does far more than it does, asserting its silence on licensing means regulatory gatekeeping on the medical weed market. But Florida’s system was crafted by the Florida Legislature, not the 2016 amendment legalizing medical weed. Lawmakers tomorrow could eliminate vertical integration and legalize homegrown pot in Florida for medical or personal use.

More dubious, DeSantis says the measure with stop the government from barring grass-smoking in public restaurants. That’s just not true. Implementing legislation already announced by Gruters and embraced by the pro-weed Smart & Safe Florida campaign does prohibit public smoking. In fact, Gruters hopes to use the opportunity to limit smoking of cigarettes in many settings that can be smoked today.

I’ve long thought the increasing percentage of adults who have smoked pot for fun some time in their life means recreational marijuana inevitably will come to pass. Whatever your opinion on the matter, make sure you know what Amendment 3 does — and does not do — before casting your ballot.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA.

Image courtesy Pixabay.