Billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin has given $12 million to an effort to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana in Florida.
Griffin, CEO of the firm Citadel, announced the contribution Friday in an opinion piece in the Miami Herald, calling the proposed amendment “a terrible plan to create the nation’s most expansive and destructive marijuana laws.”
The proposal, which will appear on the November ballot as Amendment 3, would allow the state’s medical-marijuana companies to sell recreational pot to people ages 21 and older.
Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana operator, largely has bankrolled the initiative, contributing more than $60 million. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a political ally of Griffin, opposes the proposal.
DeSantis’ chief of staff, James Uthmeier, is heading two political committees aimed at fighting the marijuana measure and another proposed amendment that would enshrine abortion rights in the state Constitution.
Griffin’s contribution to the “Keep Florida Clean” committee would make up the bulk of $20 million he said he will spend in Florida in this year’s elections.
“Passage of Amendment 3 would create a monopoly for large marijuana dispensaries and permit pot use in public and private areas throughout Florida. That will help no one other than special interests — and it will hurt us all, especially through more dangerous roads, a higher risk of addiction among our youth, and an increase in crime,” Griffin wrote.
But Morgan Hill of the Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is leading efforts to pass the amendment, issued a statement Friday that said more than “1 million Floridians signed a petition to put Amendment 3 on the ballot so that no adult will go to jail for possessing small amounts of marijuana, and Floridians will no longer have to turn to street products laced with dangerous substances like fentanyl. We remain focused on communicating the public health benefits and expanded individual freedom of legalizing recreational marijuana for adults and creating a better Florida for all.”
The Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association on Tuesday announced opposition to the proposed amendment, which will require approval from 60 percent of voters to pass.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who is a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, this week came out in support of the measure.