Florida spent $4 million in opiate settlement to defeat marijuana legalization

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration spent $4 million in cash from a national opiate crisis settlement to defeat a 2024 adult-use marijuana legalization initiative.

DeSantis officials never told the statewide advisory board – set up to determine how to spend that money – that it would go toward an anti-cannabis political campaign, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Sunday.

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In all, Florida spent $35 million on television ads and other campaign efforts to defeat Amendment 3, an adult-use legalization constitutional amendment that also had an endorsement from Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee, the Sentinel reported.

The measure had 56% voter support but needed 60% to pass.

DeSantis officials have still not explained the process by which they steered the opiate settlement cash toward the anti-cannabis campaign, the Sentinel reported.

Florida is set to receive $3 billion over 18 years from opiate manufacturers, pharmacies and distributors.

A state agency is supposed to report to an advisory board how that money is to be spent.

“When I ask questions, I expect an answer – and I have never gotten one,” said Lee Constantine, a Seminole County Commissioner and former state lawmaker who sits on the advisory board.

Adult-use marijuana legalization in Florida, the nation’s largest medical-only market, would unleash a multibillion-dollar market.

Will Florida legalize adult-use marijuana?
Revelations of the great lengths to which DeSantis, a former 2024 Republican presidential candidate and avowed foe of marijuana legalization, and his administration have gone to beat back legalization come as a 2026 adult-use cannabis campaign appears to have also failed amid staunch state opposition.

Smart & Safe Florida, a legalization effort primarily funded by Tallahassee-based MSO Trulieve Cannabis Corp. had until Feb. 1 to submit enough valid signatures to advance to the November 2026 ballot.

Trulieve has spent at least $200 million since 2022 on legalization bids, according to campaign finance records.

According to state elections officials, Smart & Safe collected only 783,000 – but that figure is contested, as it came only after the state ordered more than 200,000 signatures disqualified.

The campaign’s failure also came amid a criminal probe launched by DeSantis’ new “elections police” that’s seen signature gatherers arrested and charged with fraud.

The fraud investigation is overseen by Attorney General James Uthmeier, who served as DeSantis’ chief of staff in 2024.

In that role, Uthmeier set up and oversaw the anti-Amendment 3 political action committee.