Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Democrat firebrand and likely candidate for governor in 2026, will file a court order against the State of Florida for allegedly misusing taxpayer dollars to fund an advertisement opposing a ballot initiative legalizing recreational marijuana.
In other words, for supposedly using Floridians’ money to campaign against the citizen-led referendum, called Amendment 3.
The injunction will be filed at some point Friday, Senator Pizzo told The Floridian.
“Our challenge is to FDOT’s [the Florida Department of Transportation] misuse of taxpayer dollars to influence the election as violating the appropriations power under the Florida Constitution,” Sen. Pizzo, the incoming Senate Minority Leader, said in a text message. “There is no appropriation for FDOT to spend money on elections.”
In late September, an FDOT-funded public service announcement warning against driving high aired. The first half of the 30-second ad warned of the physical and financial dangers of smoking weed and driving, though around the 17-second mark, it claims:
“DUI crashes increase in states with legalized marijuana, putting everyone at risk,” the ad promotes, letting the second phrase hang in the air in red, bolded, letters.
According to Autoinsurance.com, the states with the most DUIs are Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, and Wyoming. People most likely to be involved in any car accident—drug-related or not—live in Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Carolina. The split between states with legalized weed versus illegal weed is fairly even in the DUI and accident metric: Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, and Ohio have legalized marijuana, while Idaho, Wyoming, and South Carolina have not.
The PSA’s ad conjecture led Smart and Safe Florida, the organization behind getting Amendment 3 on the November ballot, to send cease and desist letters to 54 TV stations running the ad, calling it critically-timed, state-funded political “propaganda”, Politico reported.
Pizzo agrees.
On social media Thursday night, he announced that he will seek an injunction against the state’s use of “taxpayer (your) money for political messaging.”
“For years, our state has wasted precious time, and many millions, peddling divisive and unproductive nonsense while flouting practical solutions for critical needs,” he said, adding fuel to the fire that as a 48-year-old former assistant state attorney, the South Floridian will run for Governor in 2026.
“While coddled special interests have bankrolled the political crusades of a few, most of our constituents are worse off than they were yesterday, last week, and last year,” Pizzo said. “We work for you, not them.”
Amendment 3 would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over, allowing users to purchase and possess up to three ounces at a time. If it receives 60% of voter approval on Nov. 5, it will become enshrined in the state constitution.
The weed amendment is one of two citizen-led referendums this year, both of which are strongly opposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Republican Party. The other initiative, Amendment 4, would protect abortion access until “fetal viability”, effectively overturning the state’s current six-week ban.
The state faced three lawsuits over its alleged campaigning against Amendment 4 using official and public resources: one from a Lake Worth attorney, one from the Florida Democratic Party, and one from the ACLU of Florida—which a Leon County Circuit judge recently dismissed because the court decided not to meddle in referendums set to be voted on by the people.
So how does Pizzo know that the court won’t dismiss his injunction for taxpayer money going against Amendment 3?
“The Amendment 4 case focused on a separate provision of the Constitution concerning the people’s political power,” he said, explaining that the ACLU’s case alleged that the state was running a taxpayer-funded misinformation campaign and allowing state officials to use public resources for a political campaign, which is restricted in Florida law.
Pizzo’s, meanwhile, deals with the state constitution’s appropriations power.
