The Florida-based cannabis multi-state operator Trulieve is spending big on a campaign to legalize adult-use cannabis in the state in 2024, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
The campaign launched earlier this year and since then, Trulieve has written the effort three checks for $5 million — in fact, Trulieve has invested all but $124 of the Smart & Safe Florida campaign’s $15 million-plus campaign war chest, the report said.
The campaign kicked off its effort in September by hiring a signature-gathering firm for $1 million — in order to successfully place the Adult Use of Marijuana Act on Florida’s 2024 ballot, advocates will need to collect nearly 900,000 valid voter signatures by February 1, 2024. Initiative backers have currently collected about 54,000 signatures, according to the report.
The Adult Use of Marijuana Act is a constitutional amendment that would allow anyone aged 21+ to “possess, display, purchase, or transport up to two and a half ounces of marijuana for personal use for any reason.” The proposal would also allow the state’s medical cannabis dispensaries to sell and distribute cannabis products for adult use.
But while Trulieve has been bankrolling legalization efforts in Florida, the company also laid off an unspecified number of employees in Gadsden County, where Trulieve has two grow locations and a processing facility, according to another Tallahassee Democrat report.
Trulieve also laid off as many as three dozen workers from a Pennsylvania cultivation facility earlier this month after posting quarterly losses totaling $115 million, MJBizDaily reported.
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