DeSantis predicts abortion, marijuana ballot initiatives will fail: ‘Very, very extreme’
DAVIE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis predicted that the abortion and marijuana ballot amendments will fail to pass when put up for a vote in November.
He made the statement during a press conference on Wednesday, following the Florida Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the initiatives and place the questions on the 2024 ballot.
“Once voters figure out how radical both of those are, they’re going to fail,” he said. “They’re very, very extreme.”
Ballot initiatives require 60% to pass.
The abortion ballot amendment legalizes a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy up until the point of viability.
The marijuana initiative would legalize the drug for recreational use throughout the state.
DeSantis argued that the abortion amendment is like a “California” policy that overrides parental consent laws.
“Very, very extreme in a number of different ways,” he said. “I think Florida voters over the past four or five cycles have developed a skepticism on these amendments generally, because they’re always written in ways that are confusing, you don’t necessarily know what the intent is gonna be.”
He believes there’s a certain portion of voters who automatically vote “no” on ballot amendments because they are aware of the “tens of millions of dollars” being used to fund these initiatives and efforts to word them in manipulative ways.
“The weed one is not just decriminalize, it’s basically a license to just have anywhere you want. No time, place and manner restrictions.” he argued. “This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and towns. It will reduce the quality of life.”
DeSantis explained how he was the one to allow for medical marijuana in the state and stores selling the drug have popped up all across Florida. He questioned why further legalization is needed.
“Do we really want to have more marijuana in our communities?” he said. “I don’t think it will work out well.”
In order to get an initiative on the 2024 ballot in the state, an organization needs to collect over 890,000 signatures from Floridians. Roughly 8% of the population.
