“Pot Daddy” is back to light up support for Amendment 3.
Orlando attorney John Morgan in 2016 led a ballot drive to allow medical marijuana in Florida. So maybe it should be no surprise that on Wednesday he endorsed a November ballot initiative, Amendment 3, that would allow recreational use of marijuana.
“They thought that I could help,” Morgan said while at his firm’s headquarters to announce his support for the proposed constitutional amendment spearheaded by the Smart & Safe Florida political committee. “They don’t call me Pot Daddy for nothing.”
The firm, Morgan & Morgan, continues to offer "Pot Daddy" swag on its merchandise website.
Morgan has already cut a series of commercials to support Amendment 3. But don’t expect Morgan to pump millions of his own dollars into the campaign as he did for the medical marijuana amendment and another successful initiative in 2020 to raise the minimum wage.
The Smart & Safe Florida committee is primarily backed by medical marijuana giant Trulieve. The recreational pot proposal has drawn opposition from the Republican Party of Florida and other GOP leaders.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, for example, said last month that if the amendment passes, “This state will start to smell like marijuana in our cities and towns. It will reduce the quality of life.”
Morgan, who now lives half of the year in Hawaii and acknowledged he takes “a gummy” nightly before bed, argued DeSantis’ stance is less about the smell of “skunk” than “making the pharmaceutical industry happy.”
Morgan said he expects the proposed amendment to receive the required 60 percent voter support to pass. He also anticipates the recreational pot industry will be heavily regulated, similar to medical marijuana businesses, as lawmakers carry out the amendment.
“Just because we vote it in doesn't mean that all of a sudden you're going to have it next to churches,” Morgan said.
