On November 5th, Floridians will take to the polls and, at once, decide the fate of recreation marijuana in the state. Earlier this year, the Florida Republican Party formally opposed the legalization of recreational marijuana, and one Republican is destined to see it voted down. Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) has shared that he will be voting against legalizing recreational marijuana.
Over the weekend, Senator Scott shared that the decision to vote against the ballot amendment is a deeply personal decision, which is based on his brother's long history of addiction. The former governor of Florida expressed that he watched his brother, Roger Scott, smoke marijuana as a teenager, and he subsequently dealt with substance abuse for the rest of his life.
Senator Scott commented that "people end up with addictive personalities, and so he did. It messes up your life, and so that's why I've never supported legalization of drugs."
The Florida Senator's brother passed away in April at the age of 67, and though the cause of his passing wasn't substance abuse, Senator Scott said that it was due to "a life of drugs and alcohol" that caught up with him.
Medical marijuana was approved during Senator Scott's tenure as governor, but he and the Legislature enacted strict restrictions on its use, which included banning smokable marijuana. In response, Cannabis advocates sued and a court agreed to allow smokable medical marijuana before Senator Scott left the governorship.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has also pushed back against the ballot amendment, declaring that Floridians will vote against it. This however has attracted criticism from Cannabis advocates.
Chris Cano, the Executive Director for the Suncoast Chapter of NORML, which is a non-profit organization that aims to reform marijuana law, disregarded the governor's comments. "He's just being sensationalist to the maximum degree."
