Originally published on 6.21.24 with OpenSecrets

Florida is on its fifth try to legalize recreational marijuana with a ballot initiative, and more money is pouring into supporting the measure than any other like it that came before.

If it passes the 60% supermajority required by the state to ratify ballot measures, Florida would join 16 other states and territories that have legalized recreational marijuana by ballot measure.

Smart & Safe Florida, the ballot measure committee behind Florida’s latest push to legalize recreational marijuana, broke new fundraising records, according to June 10 campaign filings. It has raised more than any other marijuana-related ballot measure committee in a single election cycle ever and is the most-funded measure of 2024.

Smart & Safe Florida has raised over $40 million with the election still about five months away. That means the committee has officially surpassed fundraising by California’s Proposition 64, which previously held the record for most-funded recreational marijuana legalization ballot measure. Eight committees supporting the California proposition raised a combined $36.7 million during the 2016 cycle.

Jeanne Hanna, Director of Research at the Center for Political Accountability, told OpenSecrets medical marijuana companies may be donating to this ballot measure in lieu of other political spending because of potential risks and pitfalls that come with them.

“It’s not a terribly common type in the grand scope of corporations getting involved in politics with their money, ” Hanna said regarding ballot measure spending. “But when they do attract money, they tend to attract a lot. I think it’s an area in which companies may think there aren’t extensive negative consequences because they’re not supporting a candidate who may support a wide variety of issues.”

Smart & Safe Florida raising more than any other ballot measure this year, or of its kind, are not its only historic totals. Another set of records was broken by Trulieve, a medical cannabis company with 200 locations nationwide, 137 of which are in Florida. The company’s March donation of $8.25 million to Smart & Safe Florida broke records for the largest single donation and surpassed the next largest cumulative donation from a single donor to any recreational marijuana legalization measure in the U.S. 

Trulieve’s contributions to Smart & Safe Florida total over $34 million this election cycle as of June 10, nearly five times the next largest cumulative donations for a measure of this kind. The company also put up an additional $20 million prior to the reporting dates of this election cycle, setting its total spend on this measure at over $54 million. Its donations make up over 85% of the funding for the committee.

Both Smart & Safe Florida and Trulieve did not respond to repeated requests from OpenSecrets for comment.