Governor Ron DeSantis picked up and added to where former Governor Rick Scott left off as it pertains to job creation in Florida, but if “America’s Governor” signs HB 1698 into law, he will essentially be lighting a match and all but burning down the state’s $10 billion Hemp industry.
“If Gov Ron DeSantis signs the bill, countless businesses will be shuttered, thousands of jobs (including those of Republicans) will be lost, and many who rely on hemp products for a variety of reasons would simply turn to weed,” stated Christian Camara, a conservative government affairs consultant.
In an online screed railing against the anti-Hemp measure, Camara asserts that if DeSantis signs the bill into law, Democrats, who find themselves with their backs against the political wall again in an election year, could be use the signing of the bill as “an axe to grind against Republicans in retaliation for their attack on hemp.”
It may push the recreational weed amendment over the finish line and hurt Republican candidates across the board,” added Camara.
Camara makes a very good point.
Florida Democrats are already banking that the Abortion and recreational marijuana initiatives receive the needed 60% of the vote to pass on election day, and kicking the Hemp industry in the shin could be just enough to help Democrats mitigate the advantage Republicans appear to have at the ballot box.
Gov. DeSantis recently stated that both the ballot initiatives would fail.
"Once voters figure out how radical both of those are...they are going to fail," DeSantis said.
Democrats were quick to pounce on DeSantis over his remarks, with Rep. Wasserman Schultz mocking Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
"Given his recent political track record, I think no one should really put much credence into his ability to be a strategist,” Rep. Wasserman Schultz said in an interview with The Floridian.
