Pot company sues GOP in dispute over change

Florida's largest medical marijuana company filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday, accusing the state's Republican Party of launching a “deliberately deceptive campaign” to mislead voters about a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana .

With voting already underway in the Nov. 5 election, the lawsuit filed by Trulieve, Inc. — which has spent nearly $93 million on the recreational marijuana initiative — also accused the owners of two Fort Myers-based television stations, one “demonstrably false” and “attempts to deceive Florida voters” into voting against what will appear on the ballot as Amendment 3.

“The GOP knew the claims in the deceptive mailer and ad were false, intentionally misleading and duplicitous, but published them anyway in order to persuade Florida voters to vote against a ballot initiative restricting recreational use of cannabis in Florida would legalize,” the Republican lawsuit said.

The television ad features a gardener watching a newscast saying the change “could legalize recreational marijuana.” The gardener rushes to start planting, but is confronted by a “Big Weed” figure who says, “Actually, we wrote the amendment, so we're the only ones who can grow it.”

People's inability to grow their own weed has become a major problem in efforts to defeat the proposal. Opponents of the marijuana measure, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, claim the proposal will support the state's “monopoly” on licensed medical marijuana businesses because it will allow them to begin selling recreational cannabis. The measure would also allow lawmakers to increase the number of operators.

“Amendment 3 cannot prohibit anything that is already prohibited, and the plain language of Amendment 3 says nothing about home cultivation of cannabis and does not change the current legal position regarding this issue,” the lawsuit says.

Trulieve's lawyers argued that the “Big Weed” figure is “reasonably understood by Florida voters to be Trulieve” because the company “is the largest cannabis producer in the state and because prominent Florida Republicans have publicly claimed that Trulieve authored Amendment 3.” has.”

The “gist of the ad” is that Trulieve designed the proposal to minimize competition, the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, the Florida Republican Party “paid the media defendants” to air the “deceptive” television ads.

The challenge also centers in part on mailings from the Florida Republican Party that call the marijuana proposal “a power grab by mega-marijuana corporations that eliminates their competition and forever enshrines their monopoly advantage in the Constitution.”

The letter is false because the proposal would allow lawmakers to increase the number of marijuana operators in the state, the lawsuit says.

“The truth is that there is a highly competitive market in Florida with 25 licensed medical marijuana ‘operators’ in which no single company represents even half of the market,” attorneys for Quincy-based Trulieve wrote in the lawsuit, filed March 2 . court district was filed. “And rather than eliminating competition, the ballot initiative would increase competition by allowing the state to approve additional licenses for the cultivation and sale of cannabis.”

In addition to the Republican Party of Florida, the lawsuit also named Sun Broadcasting, Inc., which owns and operates the WXCW station, and Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, which owns and operates the WINK station and is affiliated with Sun Broadcasting.

Trulieve is the primary source of funds behind the ballot initiative, providing approximately $92.8 million of the nearly $101.4 million in cash and in-kind contributions donated to the Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is the Proposal supported.

State Republican Chairman Evan Power hit back against the company on Wednesday.

“It's so funny that a company that invests nearly $100 million in a political campaign would be so sensitive to honest television advertising,” Power said in a text message. “Proponents of Amendment 3 are trying to remove these ads, which they know to be true and work. That is why they are using the judiciary to silence us, but we are not deterred from our efforts. If this huge, powerful corporation can’t handle it, then they should sit at the little kids’ table.”

The television stations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which was provided to the News Service of Florida and filed in Gadsden County.

Trulieve has 151 dispensaries across Florida – nearly twice as many as any other medical marijuana operator. Trulieve sold nearly 38 percent of the total amount of smokable marijuana sold nationwide in the week ending Sept. 26, according to a report from the Florida Department of Health. The company sold about 30 percent of other products sold nationwide, according to the report.

Trulieve filed the lawsuit “to set the record straight, enforce its civil rights, hold defendants accountable for defrauding voters, and seek compensatory and punitive damages,” the lawsuit says.

Republican leaders in Florida have largely opposed the marijuana proposal.

DeSantis' chief of staff, James Uthmeier, is leading two policy committees aimed at defeating Amendments 3 and 4, a measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The DeSantis administration has used federal resources to oppose both measures. For example, the Florida Department of Transportation recently released public notices stating that passage of the marijuana proposal could lead to more car accidents and higher car insurance premiums.

The state Republican Party passed a resolution opposing Amendment 3 in May, saying the proposal would threaten the state's “family-friendly business and tourism climate.”

However, former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, supports the measure.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday repeatedly noted that there are 25 licensed medical marijuana businesses in Florida and that state regulators have accepted applications for an additional 22 licenses.

Trulieve filed the lawsuit about a week after sending letters to television networks asking them to remove the ad.

“The GOP acted with actual malice by either knowingly or recklessly ignoring that the statements it published about Trulieve were false… and – when explicitly made aware of the truth and asked to retract them – refusing to retract them.” “We have decided to vote against a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of cannabis in Florida,” the lawsuit says.