DeSantis paints Trulieve Cannabis company as 'Canadian' amid recreational Marijuana spat
'Trulieve is Florida-born,' its CEO countered in a statement.
In Gov. Ron DeSantis' words, the campaign for Florida's recreational marijuana ballot measure is being driven by "one company from Canada."
"How ridiculous is this, that we would let our Constitution basically be rent-seeking for some Canadian marijuana company?" DeSantis said during a breakfast speech last month at the Republican National Convention. "I mean, give me a break."
But the company he's talking about is Trulieve, the largest medical marijuana operator in Florida, and its top officials contest that description.
“The fact of the matter is that Trulieve is Florida-born, our products are Florida-grown and we are headquartered in Florida with most of our nearly 4,000 employees living here as well," said CEO Kim Rivers in a statement.
She went on: "I am a Florida native, born and raised here, and this is my home. And, I might add, Florida law requires us and all MMTCs (medical marijuana treatment centers) to be Florida-based, so any statements to the contrary are completely false.”
In 2018, the company acquired a mining business in Canada through a process known as a reverse takeover, with the merged company called Trulieve Cannabis Corp.
Doing this allowed the company to publicly trade on a Canadian stock exchange while avoiding the stock market restrictions marijuana companies face in the United States, where their product is federally prohibited.
As Trulieve spokesperson Steve Vancore put it in an email: "The only connection to Canada is a holding company that was formed so that stocks can be publicly traded. Trulieve Cannabis Corp is NOT the licensee nor has it, the holding company, made a single donation to the Smart & Safe Florida campaign."
The vast majority of funds that have gone to Smart & Safe Florida, the group leading the pro-amendment campaign, come from Florida's Trulieve Inc. It's given around $60 million.
The proposed Amendment 3, if it gets at least 60% of the vote in the 2024 general election, would allow non-medical marijuana possession of up to 3 ounces, with no more than 5 grams in concentrated form, for those who are 21 years old and up.
Smart & Safe Florida and Vote No on 3, the campaign against the amendment, didn't respond to requests for comment. Nor did representatives of DeSantis.
Also, in response to the criticism, some, like Morgan & Morgan law firm founder John Morgan, have contrasted it with how DeSantis himself has promoted his actions in getting pharmaceutical products from Canada.
Morgan, who has jokingly referred to himself as the state's 'Pot Daddy,' led and poured money into the two ballot question campaigns to legalize medical pot in Florida, the second of which was successful.
"(DeSantis) has been attacking Trulieve for being from Canada," wrote Morgan, who has voiced radio advertisements in support of Amendment 3, in a social media post. "It’s not true of course, Trulieve is BY LAW a Florida-based company. But now he is crowing about how hard he is working to bring Canada pharmaceuticals to Florida. You just can’t make this stuff up."
Asked if it's accurate to call Trulieve a Canadian company, University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter said, "I can see both 'yes' and 'no' being correct answers."
"I'd be inclined to call it a U.S. company that is traded in Canada," Ritter said during an interview with the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida. "My view on this amendment is, people ought to be voting for or against it based upon their opinion about the legalization of marijuana, and the fact that this company happens to be traded in Canada is pretty irrelevant for that decision."
