November 6, 2024 • 19 mins
Could the defeat of Florida's marijuana legalization measure signal a turning tide in drug policy across America? Despite an avalanche of financial backing and celebrity endorsements, Florida's initiative fell short, leaving many to question the power dynamics at play. Join us as we unpack the surprising outcome, delving into the influential role of grassroots campaigns and bipartisan voices, such as the powerful advocacy from former congresswoman Donna Shalala. Discover how "Don't Let Florida Go to Pot" captured the public's attention and vote, challenging the narrative that financial clout guarantees success in the ballot box.
Explore the broader shift in drug policy attitudes nationwide, as marijuana legalization efforts face unexpected setbacks in states like North and South Dakota. These defeats highlight the power of community coalitions and parental advocacy in steering public opinion. With concerns over youth usage and black market proliferation, the narrative that marijuana legalization is an unstoppable force is being rewritten. Celebrate these grassroots victories as we spotlight the relentless efforts of local communities standing up to well-funded legalization campaigns.
Look to Massachusetts, where the conversation takes a fascinating turn towards psychedelic legalization in progressive hubs like Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville. Uncover the state's storied connection to psychedelics and the surprising voting patterns that emerged. Meanwhile, in Colorado Springs, a significant ban on marijuana sales underscores a commitment to public health priorities. We acknowledge the unwavering dedication of organizations like SAM and the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions, whose work has been instrumental in these recent victories, marking a pivotal moment in the fight for sensible drug policies.
Follow the work of SAM and FDPS below:
https://learnaboutsam.org/
https://gooddrugpolicy.org/
https://thedrugreport.org/
On X:
https://twitter.com/learnaboutsam
https://twitter.com/GoodDrugPolicy
https://twitter.com/KevinSabet
https://twitter.com/LukeNiforatos
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/learnaboutsam
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yes or no?
Do you believe nicotine is notaddictive?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I believe nicotine is not addictive.
Yes, Congressman, cigarettesand nicotine clearly do not meet
the classic definitions ofaddiction.
I don't believe that nicotinefor our products are addictive.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I believe nicotine is not addictive.
I believe that nicotine is notaddictive.
I believe that nicotine Okay,we are live, all right.
Kevin, thank you for joining methis evening on this another
(00:41):
momentous election night.
You know our smiles, I think,indicate how the marijuana
measures are going.
So I'm looking forward totalking about that with you.
But we'll give our viewers afew minutes to jump on with us
before we get going, so maybe wecan just talk a little bit
about kind of the lead up totonight, kevin.
So you know, what were you kindof thinking coming into this
evening and kind of the returnsand all of that.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, I mean, yeah, here it is, 1230 Eastern on
Wednesday, now, number eight,hard to believe or Wednesday
November 6th.
You know, I think what we wereseeing, what we were seeing
coming in was, I mean, it wasn'tdefinitely wasn't clear at all.
You know, donald Trump endorsedAmendment 3 in Florida, which
(01:22):
was a huge disappointment, andwe know he did that because of a
connection with the companythat spent over $141 million on
a ballot initiative to legalizemarijuana in Florida.
What's interesting about thatis that, you know, when
California spent all the moneythey did to pass Prop 36, we
never thought another statecould even come close to this.
(01:43):
So the fact that they did 140,that was really daunting.
It was very intimidating,there's no doubt about it, when
you have one big company thatstands to profit off of this.
And you know, the other thing iswe had seen the story before
where a well-liked governorwhether it was Doug Ducey,
whether it was Charlie Bakerwith his Democratic colleague,
mayor Marty Walsh, of courselater, charlie Baker with his
(02:06):
Democratic colleague, mayorMarty Walsh, who, of course,
later was the Labor Secretaryunder President Biden whether it
was, you know, multiple,frankly, presidents who were
against different legalizationmeasures around the country,
those didn't really help, but Ithink what we saw this time in
Florida was a concertedbipartisan effort among both.
You know Democrats people likeDonna Shalala.
You know the former congressman.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, you know, and it's an interesting story with
Donna because you know you and Iwere at the Clinton Global
Initiative.
You know, last month in NewYork City and we happened to
just bump into Donna and sheknew you from the prior work
together and just on the spotwe're having a conversation.
She says, you know, I want toweigh into this issue, and so
that ended up having a majorimpact.
Her op-ed was published in theMiami Herald and you know she
(02:49):
was then cut on ads by thecampaign and her voice went out
to a lot of Democratic andindependent voters on this issue
.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, I want to hope that that made somewhat of an
issue.
I mean Miami-Dade, from thelast time I saw it it could have
changed, but it was 52-48against, which is an incredible
number for Miami-Dade County tobe that, and it just showed how
badly this performed acrossFlorida.
The best they did was 60% inone county, so they were well
below the 60% threshold Still alittle too close for my comfort,
but we'll definitely take it.
(03:18):
It was a huge repudiation ofJohn Morgan, who has so much
free press in that state, beingone of the biggest trial lawyers
in the country, let alone thestate, and a huge repudiation of
other Republicans and Democratsthat supported the measure.
But overall I think it was areally good bipartisan effort.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Oh yeah, so we went from history to now current, you
know.
So we obviously those of youwho have been following us you
see we've won.
In Florida, the Florida ballotmeasure to legalize marijuana
had to get 60%.
It's well below 60%.
We'll see what the final numberis at, but it's a huge victory.
This ballot measure, I believe,was number two or maybe number
one in the history of the UnitedStates for most well-funded
(03:59):
ballot measures $140 million.
Most of that from one company,trulieve, and their CEO very
checkered past husband, verycheckered legal past.
She really kind of put herprofile on this measure.
She was getting profileswritten up about her and you
know it was really something tobehold.
They kind of thought this was adone deal and thanks to, yeah,
(04:21):
she was made entirely by now.
Yeah, definitely so, thanks to,obviously, you.
You know we had a greatconnection of, as you mentioned,
a lot of bipartisan folks andthen just an extremely well-run
campaign.
You know Trey Evers was thecampaign manager and a number of
others who were involved AmyRonshausen from Drug Free
America Foundation and others.
The Florida sheriffs just had alot of different people who
understood the state, understoodwhat needed to happen in order
(04:43):
to win.
That came together that, Ithink, ultimately led to this
truly historic defeat in Florida, and they had a great
grassroots effort as well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Don't Let Florida Go to Pot, which was just really
talking about all the differentimpacts.
So you know, I think it washuge and you know we've seen
this covered tonight everywhere,from Fox to MSNBC and everyone
from, you know, ann Coulter toSagar Anyaji to so many other
people, including on the left,to.
You know they may havedifferent opinions on this, but
(05:12):
you know, on MSNBC, joy Reid wastalking about how this was
really a repudiation ofcorporate marijuana, which is
really interesting.
I mean that's incredible.
It gave me shivers, so this wasyeah, well, and I think the
history too.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You look at Ohio in 2016, where we defeated it, and
it was the corporate messagingthat won the day there.
So I think you know peopledon't want.
People may want to reformmarijuana laws in some way, but
they don't want to havecorporate marijuana and large
corporate marijuana where theseproducts are being promoted.
Um.
So, anyway, that's Florida.
Now let's pan over toMassachusetts.
(05:48):
This was a surprise to bothmyself and Kevin.
We kind of got involved verylate in the game, kind of a Hail
Mary pass, with theanti-measure to stop the
legalization of psychedelics inMassachusetts, and so, for those
of you who've been followingthis, a measure very similar to
Massachusetts passed in my homestate of Colorado very narrowly.
What it basically does is itlegalizes six different
psychedelics like ibogaine,which causes heart attacks and
(06:09):
all kinds of other issues,psilocybin and a number of other
substances that most peopledon't even know a blasted thing
about, quite frankly, andMassachusetts is on track to
overwhelmingly reject thismeasure?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Absolutely.
Here we have our little graphicup here.
They have rejected it.
I don't see them able to reallygain any ground.
Obviously, they performed verywell in Boston, which is 10% of
the vote there, but reallyeverywhere else they lost and,
unlike the legalizationinitiative that did sort of
split some of the counties, thisreally went down, and it went
down more dramatically than Ithought.
(06:44):
I did think it was going to beclose either way.
You know, was it going to be anail biter like Colorado?
That, what was it?
51% or even less than that?
Yes, it just squeaked by inColorado.
I thought it was going to besomething either like that or
you know the other way, but thereality is it was a.
It's going to be a pretty big,big whopping there.
I mean, that is really big, andyou know why is it.
(07:09):
Quite people say well, why isit?
Because we were outspent $8million to.
You know how much did we end upputting in?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, I mean a fraction, A fraction of that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Eight to one, ten to one, yeah, and so I think it was
.
I think it's just too far.
I actually think this is partof a broader realignment of drug
policy, where we saw whathappened in Oregon, which with
Measure 110 passing a couple ofyears ago and then a huge
rejection of Measure 110 becauseit decriminalized all drugs in
(07:39):
Oregon, and people said this iswrong, it's too far.
I actually think we'refollowing that wave.
Still, I think people aresaying we're not ready for this.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Well, you had all these write-ups from the New
York Times, multiple stories inthe New York Times, multiple
stories in the Wall StreetJournal, multiple stories on
various television mediapublications talking about the
harms of marijuana, how theblack market continues to grow,
how the psychosis continues tobe a problem, how crime is a
problem.
So we're starting this in youthuse.
You know we had a major study,historic study, from the Journal
(08:12):
of the Academy of Pediatricsthat talked about the increase
in youth use.
In every state that haslegalized marijuana.
It has increased because oflegalization drew the causal tie
there.
So I think all of that comingtogether is I think voters look
at that and say we don't wantthat in our state.
And so you know, speaking ofthat, I guess we should tie it
back into the Dakotas to roundus out.
(08:32):
So four consecutive victorieshere.
This is a historic night forSam.
We're very grateful andthrilled for these states that
are going to be a lot safer andbetter off without marijuana.
So North Dakota we've got agreat, longstanding history with
North Dakota.
This started in 2018 when theyhad their first ballot measure.
We have now defeated thelegalization of marijuana in
North Dakota three times in arow.
(08:54):
North Dakota is on track todefeat it at just about the same
margin as they did last cycle,which is pretty cool.
And we're very thankful for ourcoalition, which really ran the
gambit again.
Thankful for our coalition,which really ran the gambit
again.
I mean, it's a really large,robust coalition of municipal
associations and business andhealth associations, lots of
(09:15):
strong leadership in NorthDakota and a lot of friends,
quite frankly, a lot of dearfriends and people who are just
the grassroots that have beenthe lifeblood of that campaign.
So huge win for them, very,very happy for them.
And then South Dakota, finally,you know, it's really
interesting history with SouthDakota, where you know they
passed I think it was 2018 or2020, I think it was 2020.
They passed a recreational andmedical measure together at the
(09:35):
ballot.
Then Governor Noem at the timechallenged the recreational
measure and defeated it.
Then they came back to have avote in 2022.
It was defeated.
And they've come back again andit was defeated.
So two, two times in a row inSouth Dakota.
Um, we, we have now defeatedlegalization, so that's pretty
cool.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, they clearly don't want it and there should
be some kind of rule.
Last year you vote on it acouple of times, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
There should be a statute of limitations, like if
you lose three times in a row,it's a waste of everybody's
money and time.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Uh no, but really it's pretty incredible.
And to be four for four, thereis a really historic night for
drug policy.
So obviously we'll see whathappens with the rest of the
election.
We don't know yet.
We don't know about where we'regoing with the legislature and
the executive, so we're going tohave our work cut out for us no
matter what, as we always do,but we will take these victories
(10:24):
.
This was really really welldone, yeah, well, and I think at
the end of the day, yeah, Ithink you know we're underdogs.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
At the end of the day , this is a resounding victory
for the parents thatunfortunately gather by the
thousands via email and thenconnecting into our parent
action network which, by the way, you also check out
parentactionnetwork where weconnect with parents who have
stories related to marijuana.
But this is a rallying cry thatwe actually can make a
difference.
We actually can stand up to thebig marijuana and defeat them,
(10:49):
because we literally had theclassic David and Goliath fight,
which is what our entireorganization's existence has
been, in Florida, where it's us,with literally a fraction of a
percent of what's being spent byTrulieve, to pass that measure,
and we defeated them.
And it wasn't just us, it was awhole huge coalition of a lot of
people together.
And we can do that when we cometogether, when we fight
(11:11):
together and when parents standup and share their stories and
talk about what happened totheir kids, and we are going to
keep doing that, we're going toraise the volume and we're only
going to get stronger.
And I think the beautiful thingabout this victory in Florida
is that this sets everythingback at the national level.
You had Trump, who potentiallycould be the next president of
the United States, and heendorsed this, this measure,
because he thought it was goingto pass and it didn't, and so
(11:33):
this sends a message to him.
It sends a message to everyoneelse who thought that this is
going to pass everywhere,including in states like Florida
, that this is not a foregoneconclusion, that this actually
can be beat.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Absolutely no, it's not, it's not inevitable.
You know, it actually showseven that money can't buy common
sense all the time.
It sometimes does, it oftendoes.
But when you look at the moneyspent in Florida and in
Massachusetts, of all places,and the fact that it went down
the way it did, is reallyincredible.
Yeah, I mean I think we have to.
Just it's when you look at.
(12:05):
I just want to think about someof these state results, some of
these counties I'm looking atright now in Florida.
You know it is pretty.
It's pretty incredible againhow you have Miami-Dade County
with 90% of the vote and we'reat 51-49.
You know you have CollierCounty, which of course, is
(12:26):
Naples, fort Myers, that area 53, 47.
Obviously, you know you haveBroward County 60, 40,.
Palm Beach 59, 41 in favor.
That's not surprising, but itjust it wasn't enough and that's
it's really amazing because weweren't sure.
You know, florida is the kindof place where we have a lot of
confusion about what's legal,what's not medical, non-medical,
(12:47):
delta-8.
There's a huge debate aboutDelta-8 and the hemp derivatives
and I was worried that wasgoing to be in their favor,
because a lot of people, a lotof older people hey, I want to
use my CBD cream, or is thisgoing to?
Am I going to be if thisdoesn't pass?
Am I going to be a criminal ifI want to use my CBD cream or
whatever, and they?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, I want to share like a text I got from a former
administration official I won'tI won't say say who, which
administration, but a recent one.
He texted and said this is anunbelievable quote, unbelievable
victory for Sam.
Unbelievable victory for Sam.
And another person that wasalso a higher up official in DC
Also said that they're sharingthis victories, these victories,
(13:32):
with 50 of their closestfriends.
So pretty cool to get some ofthe feedback that we're getting
these victories with, you know,50 of their closest friends, so
pretty cool to get some of thefeedback that we're getting.
And I think that you know,again, it's taking notice.
And the other piece of this toois and obviously we're a
nonpartisan organization butwhen you have a governor of the
profile of DeSantis, you knowboth he and the first lady of
Florida put their entire brandbehind stopping the legalization
(13:52):
of marijuana.
They threw everything in thekitchen sink at trying to stop
it, and so I think that broughta lot of profile to this.
We were thankful to be able topartner with them on this effort
, and so I think that is goingto also encourage, hopefully,
other governors to continue todo the good work.
And speaking of other governors, you know we had Kelly Ayotte
you know in New Hampshire, whoyou know.
She was the most anti-marijuanacandidate running for governor
(14:15):
in New Hampshire and she justwon her race, and so we're
really excited to continue ourwork in the leave free or die
state, to continue to defeatlegalization there, which we've
been successful at doing withBill Lutie and Deb Naro and so
many of the others that we'vebeen working with there for a
number of years.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Let me go back to Massachusetts for a minute
because I just think this place,yeah, I need to.
Let me go back to massachusettsfor a minute because I just
think this place, yeah, I'mshowing you here that.
You see the screen here and youlook at the results by town.
I mean it is remarkable to methat boston is only a 53 47
split with two thirdsoutstanding.
That is unbelievable, givenpeople need to understand
(14:55):
message.
If there's any home base forpsychedelics, it's actually not
San Francisco or burning man, itis Massachusetts, for many
reasons.
Timothy Leary in the 1960s,harvard it was Harvard where
where a lot of this stuffstarted.
Then you have Rick Doblin, thedarling of the Boston metro area
, who of course founded maps andthe largest psychedelic
(15:19):
research advocacy organization,which converted to be the
largest for-profit psychedelicscompany, lycos In Massachusetts.
This is incredible.
And you look at some of thesecounties here.
I mean you have a place likeCambridge.
That's only 57, 43.
I lived in Cambridge.
You're telling me 4.3 out of 10people in Cambridge said no to
(15:40):
this.
That is unbelievable.
Somerville is not surprising.
I thought Somerville would be80%.
It's 66.
Medford, which is where Tuftsis, is basically split.
You have some of the WesternNorthampton and probably Holyoke
and stuff where, yeah, amherst,I'm going to guess Williamstown
, you know where WilliamsCollege is, some of the college
(16:02):
towns.
You know Nantucket notsurprising, but Nantucket is
still almost 50, 50.
Look at all this, look at allthis sort of what I'm going to
call it.
It's sort of a salmon here andthe no side is really, yeah,
provincetown not surprising, butWilliamsburg, as I mentioned.
But again, you look at all thissalmon and even the blue.
(16:25):
That is really close, most ofthe blue and it's really
remarkable.
It's breathtaking actually tosee the numbers like this.
I think it's worth reflecting57% so far, no, with 71% of the
votes in Really amazing.
You compare that to marijuanain 2016, very different.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Very different.
Yeah, well, to round out ourconversation, I do want to give
a little hometown news.
So here in Colorado, coloradoSprings, had two really big
measures that there was a lot ofspending, a lot of work on.
My friend, daniel Cole, did agreat job there.
They passed a ban on sales inColorado Springs.
That's going to preempt anothermeasure that looks like it's
going to sneak by and so it willban all sales, affirmatively in
(17:08):
Colorado Springs.
So that's pretty exciting.
It's a great win for him, greatwin for the state or for the
city of Colorado Springs.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, here we go Officially.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
this is what we're looking at here.
Yeah, very official now reallyinteresting history.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Of course colorado springs, because I think they
defeated by about 57 some yearsago retail sales.
It's really been, and is it thesecond largest city in denver?
Yeah, I think it will be thesecond largest city, but yeah,
third yeah yeah, yeah, and youknow that that's really
remarkable and you know it doesgo to show that a lot of the
local you know sort of not thebiggest cities in the
(17:43):
jurisdictions but all the otherones often do reject it.
They don't actually want potshops in their own community.
So pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
That's right.
Yep, so well.
This is a great night forpublic health.
It's a great night for publicsafety.
We want to thank all of ourpartners on the ground in these
states who made these winspossible, and I thank you for
the great work that you all did.
It's really special.
You get a chance to work withpeople who are professionals,
who make a living whether it'sin campaigns or other such work
and it's pretty outstanding whenyou meet people who have great
(18:12):
skill and then they want to putthat skill to noble ends, which
is just so rare, I think.
And it's pretty cool to get achance to work with such special
people in these differentstates.
So, thank you all for the greatwork you did.
Thanks to our national networkof people and all of you
watching who make this possiblethrough donations, through time,
through volunteering, throughsupport, let's keep going.
(18:34):
This is a great victory nightfor all of us and we're going to
keep going from here.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Definitely a big shout out to all the people
working in the different states,but also to all of our staff
here at SAM and the Foundationfor Drug Policy Solutions
working so hard around the clock, literally, on these issues.
So I'm very grateful for all ofyou and really an incredible
night for drug policy.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Great Thanks, Kevin.
Thank you all.
Have a good night.
Yes or no?
Do you believe nicotine is notaddictive?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I believe nicotine is not addictive.
Yes, Congressman, cigarettesand nicotine clearly do not meet
the classic definitions ofaddiction.
I don't believe that nicotinefor our products are addictive.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I believe nicotine is not addictive.
I believe that nicotine is notaddictive.
I believe that nicotine Okay,we are live, all right.
Kevin, thank you for joining methis evening on this another
(00:41):
momentous election night.
You know our smiles, I think,indicate how the marijuana
measures are going.
So I'm looking forward totalking about that with you.
But we'll give our viewers afew minutes to jump on with us
before we get going, so maybe wecan just talk a little bit
about kind of the lead up totonight, kevin.
So you know, what were you kindof thinking coming into this
evening and kind of the returnsand all of that.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, I mean, yeah, here it is, 1230 Eastern on
Wednesday, now, number eight,hard to believe or Wednesday
November 6th.
You know, I think what we wereseeing, what we were seeing
coming in was, I mean, it wasn'tdefinitely wasn't clear at all.
You know, donald Trump endorsedAmendment 3 in Florida, which
(01:22):
was a huge disappointment, andwe know he did that because of a
connection with the companythat spent over $141 million on
a ballot initiative to legalizemarijuana in Florida.
What's interesting about thatis that, you know, when
California spent all the moneythey did to pass Prop 36, we
never thought another statecould even come close to this.
(01:43):
So the fact that they did 140,that was really daunting.
It was very intimidating,there's no doubt about it, when
you have one big company thatstands to profit off of this.
And you know, the other thing iswe had seen the story before
where a well-liked governorwhether it was Doug Ducey,
whether it was Charlie Bakerwith his Democratic colleague,
mayor Marty Walsh, of courselater, charlie Baker with his
(02:06):
Democratic colleague, mayorMarty Walsh, who, of course,
later was the Labor Secretaryunder President Biden whether it
was, you know, multiple,frankly, presidents who were
against different legalizationmeasures around the country,
those didn't really help, but Ithink what we saw this time in
Florida was a concertedbipartisan effort among both.
You know Democrats people likeDonna Shalala.
You know the former congressman.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, you know, and it's an interesting story with
Donna because you know you and Iwere at the Clinton Global
Initiative.
You know, last month in NewYork City and we happened to
just bump into Donna and sheknew you from the prior work
together and just on the spotwe're having a conversation.
She says, you know, I want toweigh into this issue, and so
that ended up having a majorimpact.
Her op-ed was published in theMiami Herald and you know she
(02:49):
was then cut on ads by thecampaign and her voice went out
to a lot of Democratic andindependent voters on this issue
.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, I want to hope that that made somewhat of an
issue.
I mean Miami-Dade, from thelast time I saw it it could have
changed, but it was 52-48against, which is an incredible
number for Miami-Dade County tobe that, and it just showed how
badly this performed acrossFlorida.
The best they did was 60% inone county, so they were well
below the 60% threshold Still alittle too close for my comfort,
but we'll definitely take it.
(03:18):
It was a huge repudiation ofJohn Morgan, who has so much
free press in that state, beingone of the biggest trial lawyers
in the country, let alone thestate, and a huge repudiation of
other Republicans and Democratsthat supported the measure.
But overall I think it was areally good bipartisan effort.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Oh yeah, so we went from history to now current, you
know.
So we obviously those of youwho have been following us you
see we've won.
In Florida, the Florida ballotmeasure to legalize marijuana
had to get 60%.
It's well below 60%.
We'll see what the final numberis at, but it's a huge victory.
This ballot measure, I believe,was number two or maybe number
one in the history of the UnitedStates for most well-funded
(03:59):
ballot measures $140 million.
Most of that from one company,trulieve, and their CEO very
checkered past husband, verycheckered legal past.
She really kind of put herprofile on this measure.
She was getting profileswritten up about her and you
know it was really something tobehold.
They kind of thought this was adone deal and thanks to, yeah,
(04:21):
she was made entirely by now.
Yeah, definitely so, thanks to,obviously, you.
You know we had a greatconnection of, as you mentioned,
a lot of bipartisan folks andthen just an extremely well-run
campaign.
You know Trey Evers was thecampaign manager and a number of
others who were involved AmyRonshausen from Drug Free
America Foundation and others.
The Florida sheriffs just had alot of different people who
understood the state, understoodwhat needed to happen in order
(04:43):
to win.
That came together that, Ithink, ultimately led to this
truly historic defeat in Florida, and they had a great
grassroots effort as well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Don't Let Florida Go to Pot, which was just really
talking about all the differentimpacts.
So you know, I think it washuge and you know we've seen
this covered tonight everywhere,from Fox to MSNBC and everyone
from, you know, ann Coulter toSagar Anyaji to so many other
people, including on the left,to.
You know they may havedifferent opinions on this, but
(05:12):
you know, on MSNBC, joy Reid wastalking about how this was
really a repudiation ofcorporate marijuana, which is
really interesting.
I mean that's incredible.
It gave me shivers, so this wasyeah, well, and I think the
history too.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
You look at Ohio in 2016, where we defeated it, and
it was the corporate messagingthat won the day there.
So I think you know peopledon't want.
People may want to reformmarijuana laws in some way, but
they don't want to havecorporate marijuana and large
corporate marijuana where theseproducts are being promoted.
Um.
So, anyway, that's Florida.
Now let's pan over toMassachusetts.
(05:48):
This was a surprise to bothmyself and Kevin.
We kind of got involved verylate in the game, kind of a Hail
Mary pass, with theanti-measure to stop the
legalization of psychedelics inMassachusetts, and so, for those
of you who've been followingthis, a measure very similar to
Massachusetts passed in my homestate of Colorado very narrowly.
What it basically does is itlegalizes six different
psychedelics like ibogaine,which causes heart attacks and
(06:09):
all kinds of other issues,psilocybin and a number of other
substances that most peopledon't even know a blasted thing
about, quite frankly, andMassachusetts is on track to
overwhelmingly reject thismeasure?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Absolutely.
Here we have our little graphicup here.
They have rejected it.
I don't see them able to reallygain any ground.
Obviously, they performed verywell in Boston, which is 10% of
the vote there, but reallyeverywhere else they lost and,
unlike the legalizationinitiative that did sort of
split some of the counties, thisreally went down, and it went
down more dramatically than Ithought.
(06:44):
I did think it was going to beclose either way.
You know, was it going to be anail biter like Colorado?
That, what was it?
51% or even less than that?
Yes, it just squeaked by inColorado.
I thought it was going to besomething either like that or
you know the other way, but thereality is it was a.
It's going to be a pretty big,big whopping there.
I mean, that is really big, andyou know why is it.
(07:09):
Quite people say well, why isit?
Because we were outspent $8million to.
You know how much did we end upputting in?
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, I mean a fraction, A fraction of that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Eight to one, ten to one, yeah, and so I think it was
.
I think it's just too far.
I actually think this is partof a broader realignment of drug
policy, where we saw whathappened in Oregon, which with
Measure 110 passing a couple ofyears ago and then a huge
rejection of Measure 110 becauseit decriminalized all drugs in
(07:39):
Oregon, and people said this iswrong, it's too far.
I actually think we'refollowing that wave.
Still, I think people aresaying we're not ready for this.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Well, you had all these write-ups from the New
York Times, multiple stories inthe New York Times, multiple
stories in the Wall StreetJournal, multiple stories on
various television mediapublications talking about the
harms of marijuana, how theblack market continues to grow,
how the psychosis continues tobe a problem, how crime is a
problem.
So we're starting this in youthuse.
You know we had a major study,historic study, from the Journal
(08:12):
of the Academy of Pediatricsthat talked about the increase
in youth use.
In every state that haslegalized marijuana.
It has increased because oflegalization drew the causal tie
there.
So I think all of that comingtogether is I think voters look
at that and say we don't wantthat in our state.
And so you know, speaking ofthat, I guess we should tie it
back into the Dakotas to roundus out.
(08:32):
So four consecutive victorieshere.
This is a historic night forSam.
We're very grateful andthrilled for these states that
are going to be a lot safer andbetter off without marijuana.
So North Dakota we've got agreat, longstanding history with
North Dakota.
This started in 2018 when theyhad their first ballot measure.
We have now defeated thelegalization of marijuana in
North Dakota three times in arow.
(08:54):
North Dakota is on track todefeat it at just about the same
margin as they did last cycle,which is pretty cool.
And we're very thankful for ourcoalition, which really ran the
gambit again.
Thankful for our coalition,which really ran the gambit
again.
I mean, it's a really large,robust coalition of municipal
associations and business andhealth associations, lots of
(09:15):
strong leadership in NorthDakota and a lot of friends,
quite frankly, a lot of dearfriends and people who are just
the grassroots that have beenthe lifeblood of that campaign.
So huge win for them, very,very happy for them.
And then South Dakota, finally,you know, it's really
interesting history with SouthDakota, where you know they
passed I think it was 2018 or2020, I think it was 2020.
They passed a recreational andmedical measure together at the
(09:35):
ballot.
Then Governor Noem at the timechallenged the recreational
measure and defeated it.
Then they came back to have avote in 2022.
It was defeated.
And they've come back again andit was defeated.
So two, two times in a row inSouth Dakota.
Um, we, we have now defeatedlegalization, so that's pretty
cool.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Yeah, they clearly don't want it and there should
be some kind of rule.
Last year you vote on it acouple of times, yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
There should be a statute of limitations, like if
you lose three times in a row,it's a waste of everybody's
money and time.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Uh no, but really it's pretty incredible.
And to be four for four, thereis a really historic night for
drug policy.
So obviously we'll see whathappens with the rest of the
election.
We don't know yet.
We don't know about where we'regoing with the legislature and
the executive, so we're going tohave our work cut out for us no
matter what, as we always do,but we will take these victories
(10:24):
.
This was really really welldone, yeah, well, and I think at
the end of the day, yeah, Ithink you know we're underdogs.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
At the end of the day , this is a resounding victory
for the parents thatunfortunately gather by the
thousands via email and thenconnecting into our parent
action network which, by the way, you also check out
parentactionnetwork where weconnect with parents who have
stories related to marijuana.
But this is a rallying cry thatwe actually can make a
difference.
We actually can stand up to thebig marijuana and defeat them,
(10:49):
because we literally had theclassic David and Goliath fight,
which is what our entireorganization's existence has
been, in Florida, where it's us,with literally a fraction of a
percent of what's being spent byTrulieve, to pass that measure,
and we defeated them.
And it wasn't just us, it was awhole huge coalition of a lot of
people together.
And we can do that when we cometogether, when we fight
(11:11):
together and when parents standup and share their stories and
talk about what happened totheir kids, and we are going to
keep doing that, we're going toraise the volume and we're only
going to get stronger.
And I think the beautiful thingabout this victory in Florida
is that this sets everythingback at the national level.
You had Trump, who potentiallycould be the next president of
the United States, and heendorsed this, this measure,
because he thought it was goingto pass and it didn't, and so
(11:33):
this sends a message to him.
It sends a message to everyoneelse who thought that this is
going to pass everywhere,including in states like Florida
, that this is not a foregoneconclusion, that this actually
can be beat.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
Absolutely no, it's not, it's not inevitable.
You know, it actually showseven that money can't buy common
sense all the time.
It sometimes does, it oftendoes.
But when you look at the moneyspent in Florida and in
Massachusetts, of all places,and the fact that it went down
the way it did, is reallyincredible.
Yeah, I mean I think we have to.
Just it's when you look at.
(12:05):
I just want to think about someof these state results, some of
these counties I'm looking atright now in Florida.
You know it is pretty.
It's pretty incredible againhow you have Miami-Dade County
with 90% of the vote and we'reat 51-49.
You know you have CollierCounty, which of course, is
(12:26):
Naples, fort Myers, that area 53, 47.
Obviously, you know you haveBroward County 60, 40,.
Palm Beach 59, 41 in favor.
That's not surprising, but itjust it wasn't enough and that's
it's really amazing because weweren't sure.
You know, florida is the kindof place where we have a lot of
confusion about what's legal,what's not medical, non-medical,
(12:47):
delta-8.
There's a huge debate aboutDelta-8 and the hemp derivatives
and I was worried that wasgoing to be in their favor,
because a lot of people, a lotof older people hey, I want to
use my CBD cream, or is thisgoing to?
Am I going to be if thisdoesn't pass?
Am I going to be a criminal ifI want to use my CBD cream or
whatever, and they?
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Yeah, I want to share like a text I got from a former
administration official I won'tI won't say say who, which
administration, but a recent one.
He texted and said this is anunbelievable quote, unbelievable
victory for Sam.
Unbelievable victory for Sam.
And another person that wasalso a higher up official in DC
Also said that they're sharingthis victories, these victories,
(13:32):
with 50 of their closestfriends.
So pretty cool to get some ofthe feedback that we're getting
these victories with, you know,50 of their closest friends, so
pretty cool to get some of thefeedback that we're getting.
And I think that you know,again, it's taking notice.
And the other piece of this toois and obviously we're a
nonpartisan organization butwhen you have a governor of the
profile of DeSantis, you knowboth he and the first lady of
Florida put their entire brandbehind stopping the legalization
(13:52):
of marijuana.
They threw everything in thekitchen sink at trying to stop
it, and so I think that broughta lot of profile to this.
We were thankful to be able topartner with them on this effort
, and so I think that is goingto also encourage, hopefully,
other governors to continue todo the good work.
And speaking of other governors, you know we had Kelly Ayotte
you know in New Hampshire, whoyou know.
She was the most anti-marijuanacandidate running for governor
(14:15):
in New Hampshire and she justwon her race, and so we're
really excited to continue ourwork in the leave free or die
state, to continue to defeatlegalization there, which we've
been successful at doing withBill Lutie and Deb Naro and so
many of the others that we'vebeen working with there for a
number of years.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Let me go back to Massachusetts for a minute
because I just think this place,yeah, I need to.
Let me go back to massachusettsfor a minute because I just
think this place, yeah, I'mshowing you here that.
You see the screen here and youlook at the results by town.
I mean it is remarkable to methat boston is only a 53 47
split with two thirdsoutstanding.
That is unbelievable, givenpeople need to understand
(14:55):
message.
If there's any home base forpsychedelics, it's actually not
San Francisco or burning man, itis Massachusetts, for many
reasons.
Timothy Leary in the 1960s,harvard it was Harvard where
where a lot of this stuffstarted.
Then you have Rick Doblin, thedarling of the Boston metro area
, who of course founded maps andthe largest psychedelic
(15:19):
research advocacy organization,which converted to be the
largest for-profit psychedelicscompany, lycos In Massachusetts.
This is incredible.
And you look at some of thesecounties here.
I mean you have a place likeCambridge.
That's only 57, 43.
I lived in Cambridge.
You're telling me 4.3 out of 10people in Cambridge said no to
(15:40):
this.
That is unbelievable.
Somerville is not surprising.
I thought Somerville would be80%.
It's 66.
Medford, which is where Tuftsis, is basically split.
You have some of the WesternNorthampton and probably Holyoke
and stuff where, yeah, amherst,I'm going to guess Williamstown
, you know where WilliamsCollege is, some of the college
(16:02):
towns.
You know Nantucket notsurprising, but Nantucket is
still almost 50, 50.
Look at all this, look at allthis sort of what I'm going to
call it.
It's sort of a salmon here andthe no side is really, yeah,
provincetown not surprising, butWilliamsburg, as I mentioned.
But again, you look at all thissalmon and even the blue.
(16:25):
That is really close, most ofthe blue and it's really
remarkable.
It's breathtaking actually tosee the numbers like this.
I think it's worth reflecting57% so far, no, with 71% of the
votes in Really amazing.
You compare that to marijuanain 2016, very different.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Very different.
Yeah, well, to round out ourconversation, I do want to give
a little hometown news.
So here in Colorado, coloradoSprings, had two really big
measures that there was a lot ofspending, a lot of work on.
My friend, daniel Cole, did agreat job there.
They passed a ban on sales inColorado Springs.
That's going to preempt anothermeasure that looks like it's
going to sneak by and so it willban all sales, affirmatively in
(17:08):
Colorado Springs.
So that's pretty exciting.
It's a great win for him, greatwin for the state or for the
city of Colorado Springs.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah, here we go Officially.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
this is what we're looking at here.
Yeah, very official now reallyinteresting history.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Of course colorado springs, because I think they
defeated by about 57 some yearsago retail sales.
It's really been, and is it thesecond largest city in denver?
Yeah, I think it will be thesecond largest city, but yeah,
third yeah yeah, yeah, and youknow that that's really
remarkable and you know it doesgo to show that a lot of the
local you know sort of not thebiggest cities in the
(17:43):
jurisdictions but all the otherones often do reject it.
They don't actually want potshops in their own community.
So pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
That's right.
Yep, so well.
This is a great night forpublic health.
It's a great night for publicsafety.
We want to thank all of ourpartners on the ground in these
states who made these winspossible, and I thank you for
the great work that you all did.
It's really special.
You get a chance to work withpeople who are professionals,
who make a living whether it'sin campaigns or other such work
and it's pretty outstanding whenyou meet people who have great
(18:12):
skill and then they want to putthat skill to noble ends, which
is just so rare, I think.
And it's pretty cool to get achance to work with such special
people in these differentstates.
So, thank you all for the greatwork you did.
Thanks to our national networkof people and all of you
watching who make this possiblethrough donations, through time,
through volunteering, throughsupport, let's keep going.
(18:34):
This is a great victory nightfor all of us and we're going to
keep going from here.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Definitely a big shout out to all the people
working in the different states,but also to all of our staff
here at SAM and the Foundationfor Drug Policy Solutions
working so hard around the clock, literally, on these issues.
So I'm very grateful for all ofyou and really an incredible
night for drug policy.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Great Thanks, Kevin.
Thank you all.
Have a good night.
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