Florida Judge Dismisses Marijuana Company’s Defamation Lawsuit Against State Republican Party Over Legalization Campaign

A Florida judge has dismissed a cannabis company’s lawsuit against the state Republican Party over last year’s failed constitutional amendment that sought to legalize adult-use marijuana.

Trulieve, which spent nearly $100 million trying to pass Amendment 3, filed a defamation suit against the party ahead of November’s election, alleging the GOP knowingly deceived voters about the proposed change. Trulieve argued the party’s opposition campaign was “intentionally deceptive,” with “demonstrably false” claims that were “trying to fool Florida voters” into opposing the reform.

In a ruling Friday, however, a judge rejected the dispute. Judge Ronald W. Flury of the state’s Second Judicial Circuit dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, meaning Trulieve cannot file an amended complaint.

Flury wrote that “amendment would be futile as there are no set of facts that would state a cause for defamation.”

Florida GOP Chairman Evan Power championed the win on social media over the weekend, saying the company “tried to use lawfare against us.”

He and other state Republicans framed the decision as a second loss for Trulieve following its failure at the ballot box.

First they tried to pass Amendment 3 and then they tried to use lawfare against us.

Rack up two HUGE wins for the @FloridaGOP pic.twitter.com/iJMCgR4RMv

— Evan Power (@EvanPower) March 7, 2025

“Big Weed was rejected by Floridians in November, and now the court has thrown out their desperate attempt to undo the will of the electorate. As long as I’m Chairman, the Florida GOP will stand for free speech and against these out-of-state, liberal monopolies,” Power, who has also worked as a lobbyist for an association that includes hemp companies that contributed to the effort to defeat Amendment 3, said. “The Florida GOP will not be bullied by anyone—especially not far-left mega marijuana organizations like Trulieve.”

Trulieve did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. At the time the company filed the suit, it said the action was intended to “set the record straight” after GOP mail and TV advertisements in opposition to Amendment 3.

Central to the allegations was a TV spot that Trulieve said implied that only large corporations would benefit under the proposal. Critics had said the measure would create a “monopoly,” with limited licenses and a prohibition on home cultivation for personal use.

Trulieve’s lawsuit said that was untrue because state lawmakers would have the authority to issue more licenses. And it noted that Florida already prohibits home cultivation of cannabis—a matter the constitutional amendment simply didn’t address.

“Amendment 3 cannot prohibit something that is already prohibited,” the company’s complaint said, “and the plain text of Amendment 3 says nothing about the home cultivation of cannabis and does not change the current state of the law with respect to that issue.”

In a fiery press release on Sunday, Florida Republicans described the new ruling as “yet another embarrassing loss for Big Weed”:

“This marks the second time in just four months that Trulieve and its far-left allies have been soundly defeated. In November, Florida voters crushed their pro-pot Amendment 3 scheme, thanks to the Florida GOP’s efforts to keep the state’s constitution free from reckless special-interest meddling. Now, the court has shut down their latest tantrum, with Judge Flury finding RPOF’s advertisements informing voters of the dangers of Amendment 3 to be ‘sufficiently accurate’ and finding that Trulieve failed to establish that RPOF’s advertisements were defamatory.”

Last year’s marijuana proposal did receive a majority of the vote, but Florida’s 60 percent requirement for constitutional amendments meant the push was unsuccessful. That’s despite tens of millions of dollars coming into the Smart & Safe Florida campaign—chiefly from Trulieve—and an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

My statement on the Judge dismissing the lawfare from Trulieve against the Florida GOP pic.twitter.com/teX2Fs6LHW

— Evan Power (@EvanPower) March 8, 2025

Smart & Safe Florida is already gearing up for another ballot fight next year, having so far submitted just over 7,100 valid signatures of the 891,523 needed to make the 2026 ballot, according to the Florida Division of Elections.

The campaign’s 2026 iteration includes several changes that seem responsive to issues raised by critics about the 2024 version.

For example, there’s new clarifying language prohibiting the sale of marijuana products that are marketed in a way that might be appealing to children.

It further explicitly states that nothing in the measure would “prohibit the legislature from providing for the home growing of marijuana by adults for their personal use and the reasonable regulation thereof.” That clarification may assuage concerns from certain advocates who criticized the lack of a home grow option in the original proposal.

The initiative would also make it so medical marijuana operators that have been licensed as of January 1, 2025 would be able to start providing for adult-use sales starting on the effective date.

Another nuance in the new proposal concerns licensure for businesses that want to enter the space in the future. Some worried that the prior version could effectively create a monopoly benefitting the existing medical marijuana operators alone because it simply said the legislature wasn’t prohibited from allowing additional licenses, without a mandate to actually take up that issue.

Just last week, however, a legislative panel in the state advanced a plan that would impose significant restrictions on the ability to put initiatives on the ballot, which could hamper legalization efforts.

Last month,meanwhile, a survey from the University of North Florida found that, despite last year’s ballot proposal failing, there’s overwhelming, bipartisan voter support for the reform. It showed that 67 percent of Florida voters now back legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.

The results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.

Meanwhile, the governor said in January that the latest version of the legalization initiative is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.

“There’s a lot of different perspectives on on marijuana,” DeSantis said. “It should not be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you have elections for the legislature. Go back candidates that you believe will be able to deliver what your vision is on that.”

“But when you put these things in the Constitution—and I think, I mean, the way they wrote, there’s all kinds of things going on in here. I think it’s going to have big time trouble getting through the Florida Supreme Court,” he said.

Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. It’s not entirely clear why he feels this version would face a different outcome.

Separately, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.

Ahead of the election, Trump said in September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.

Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.

While Trump endorsed the Florida cannabis initiative—as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access—he has since been silent on cannabis issues. And his cabinet choices have mixed records on marijuana policy.

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