As Florida prepares to vote on Amendment 3, which would legalize adult-use cannabis in the state, Florida’s largest medical cannabis company is sueing the Republican Party and two TV stations for what it calls a misleading campaign.
Amendment 3 is set to be one of the most consequential referendums during this upcoming November election, and indeed in US history, with Florida representing a sizeable potential market for cannabis businesses.
The vote was already thrown into the spotlight last month after former President Donald Trump, a Florida resident, voiced public support for the adult-use legalization initiative, breaking ranks with the Republican state Governor, Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis has intensified his efforts to quash the legalization ballot, and has piled some $15m of taxpayer funds into campaigns urging Floridians to vote against Amendment 3 and Amendment 4, which deals with abortion rights.
Now, Trulieve has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Republican Party of Florida, accusing it of running ads against Amendment 3 which contain ‘demonstrably false’ information.
The lawsuit, which is also targeting two Fort Myers-based TV stations for broadcasting the ads, argues that they falsely depict Amendment 3 as a measure designed to entrench a monopoly by large cannabis companies like Trulieve.
One advert features a gardener trying to plant cannabis but being blocked by a ‘Big Weed’ character. Trulieve says this is misleading, noting that the proposal allows the state legislature to expand the number of licensed operators, increasing competition.
Trulieve also suggests that DeSantis’s claims that the amendment will benefit the existing cannabis industry at the expense of smaller operators and home cultivators, also argues against this.
The company filed the suit to correct the record and seek damages. Republican Party leaders, however, dismissed the lawsuit as an attempt to silence opposition, defending the ads as truthful and impactful.
The post Trulieve Sues Florida GOP Over Alleged ‘Misleading’ Ads on Cannabis Amendment appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
