Donald Trump has indicated his support for a constitutional amendment that would legalize recreational marijuana in his state of Florida.
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, President Trump said Florida’s Amendment 3 “legalizes the personal use of marijuana for adults, whether people like it or not.”
“It’s legal in so many other states and people shouldn’t be criminalized in Florida,” the former US president said, adding, “We don’t need to ruin people’s lives and waste taxpayer money by arresting adults for possession of drug paraphernalia.”
As a Florida resident, Trump will have the right to vote in November for Florida’s Amendment 3, which would allow adults over the age of 21 to legally purchase and use marijuana without a medical card.
Under the proposed amendments, personal cultivation of marijuana would remain illegal and individuals would be limited to possessing up to three ounces for personal use.
Trump’s support stands in contrast to that of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has been a vocal opponent of the voting measure. “This is bad policy and even worse, unconstitutional,” DeSantis wrote in an X post this week.
DeSantis has said he opposes Amendment 3 because of the smell, and claims without evidence that it would “allow someone to bring 20 joints into an elementary school.”
In a social media post, President Trump called on state lawmakers to implement regulations banning marijuana use in public places so “you don’t smell marijuana everywhere you go.”
But supporters of marijuana legalization argue that Republican lawmakers are exaggerating the scale of the odor problem in order to support policies banning public use of marijuana that have come to be accepted by Americans for years.
Most states in the U.S. currently allow marijuana for medical or recreational use. In recent years, 24 states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use, and 14 more have approved it for medical use, according to the Pew Research Center.
Florida’s amendment needs 60% of voters’ support to pass, and polls show that a majority of Florida voters support the measure.
Voters in South Dakota and North Dakota will also decide on ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana in the November election.
Trump’s marijuana-related Truth Social post on Saturday came amid growing polling showing him trailing his vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in key battleground states that could determine the outcome of the race for the White House.