B (3:07)

Well, so I think that there's Soros backed left leaning groups that try to torpedo in and they spend a lot of money. I think you have to go back and look, I know specifically where Amendment three is being funded, but with four, I mean, it's the same people that have brought you a lot of these other amendments. But thanks goodness that you have the governor who stood up and he has been traveling around the state and as myself and a lot of people from the legislature to try to fight this thing and to say no.

A (3:34)

Yeah, it's really sick, the misinformation, disinformation I should say, that I'm seeing specifically surrounding this amendment. You're seeing some people say, well, you know, it's not really about abortion, it's really just about miscarriage care or it's protecting women's health in case of some kind of emergency. But of course that's not true because the pro life law, the heartbeat bill that was signed by Governor DeSantis, of course it protects miscarriage care and of course it protects women in case of emergency situations. So that's just a complete and total lie, right?

B (4:07)

Right. No, you're 100% right. I think that's. Well, and the truth is they're trying to peddle a false narrative so that you don't understand what the current law is. And then they're being very squirrely with the language that's in the constitutional amendment. So there are PSAs that are running right now on television all across the state of Florida talking about the truth of the heartbeat protections. And at the same time there are ads out there talking about what it would mean if this constitutional amendment would pass.

A (4:35)

Hmm, let's talk about Amendment 3. Amendment 3 has to do with weed. And I've seen some people who are maybe like center, center left, maybe conservative in some ways saying, no, this is just giving people the freedom to do what they want to do in their own homes. Is that really what Amendment 3 is though?

B (4:54)

No, it has nothing to do about freedom. This is about one corporation, a megaweed cartel that's spending over $140 million to basically hijack our constitutional system to give them revenue in perpetuity. If it were really about freedom, then why when they wrote this constitutional amendment, did they say you can smoke weed recreationally but you can only use our product, you can't grow it in your home, that's illegal. And by the way, and this is pretty egregious, they gave themselves blanket civil and criminal liability in any part of the process. So if you're smoking their product or consuming their product, or let's say you get hit by one of the megaweed corporate cartels trucks, you can't sue them, you have zero recourse. And so if it were about freedom, they of course would say, well, you can grow it in your home. And this has nothing to do. This is backed by one megaweed company that has traded on the Canadian stock exchange that invested over $140 million. Why? They have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to get a return on their investment. So for them it's not about the well being of the people of this state. It's not about the best interests of families or the quality of life life because there's no restrictions on public use. This is about them and an investment and trying to get money for themselves with constitutionally backed revenue stream in perpetuity. It's like a monopoly.

A (6:24)

Tell me if this is correct. The amendment allows for a person to carry up to 3 ounces of marijuana, which is equivalent to over 100 joints on their person at a time. This means street level drug dealing would effectively be legalized, potatoes would be everywhere, and there would be no way for concerned parents to be able to shield their children from exposure to marijuana. The smell of marijuana, the effects of marijuana, is that true?

B (6:46)

Yeah, 100%. So first of all, when you talk about the amount that you can carry on your person, that's three times the amount that you can carry on your person in California. And look how well it's worked out for California and some of these other states. Then you talk about not being able to escape the smell, right? It's inevitable of any of these states where it has been legalized recreationally, where they flee California, New York, you can't even walk down a New York City block without smelling marijuana. Again, there are no limitations on public usage. So again, a church, a library, a park, going to your kids, Little League game, waiting in line for Universal Studios, because this is a constitutional right, the legislature could not undo it and law enforcement wouldn't be able to undo it. And then you see the other ramifications of what happens in other states where this has been enacted. And you see fatalities on the roads go up, you see children consuming things like gummies. I mean, I don't understand why they put high levels of THC into gummies and lollipops, but it happens that these kids get ahold of it. In California, you saw a 445% increase into the poison control hotline for marijuana related incidents involving kids under the age of five. So anywhere this has been tried, it's been failed. And then for the people who say, okay, it's freedom, well, list, we currently in the state of Florida have a regulated medical marijuana market where we have, or we, the state has issued more than, I think, 900,000 medical marijuana cards. I haven't heard a lot of people complaining about not being able to get one of those cards. But it's regulated, it is available in the state of Florida. You can drive down a street, you can see a lot of these storefronts. But to do this when it has been, it has been tried and it has failed in so many other states would be detrimental to the well being of the people of the state going forward. And again, it cannot be undone by the legislature. This is a right.

A (8:48)

And we don't have time to get into all of this. But there's also just so much disinformation about marijuana out there. A lot of people think it is like the harmless drug and it's really not. I mean, you mentioned, you know, traffic fatalities because people are under the influence of weed. But also it can increase mental health issues, especially in young people. And as you said, when it becomes this ubiquitous, it becomes more accessible to children, to teens. And, and this has a real lifelong detrimental effect on their wellbeing, on their mental health. And so I just, as a mom, first of all, I hate smelling weed. I would hate walking to the park and having to smell weed, have to see a weed shop on every block for it to be completely unregulated. And then, yeah, I worry about its availability and accessibility to young people and how that affects my safety. And as you said, I just want everyone to understand this. If this passes, it's not like, oh, it would just change with the next, you know, in the next legislative session. No, this would be an amendment. And so it would be basically set in stone. Right?

B (9:54)

100%. And it's really kind of sick the way that they did this, because if they wanted to go through the proper legislative process, they would go through the House and the Senate, they'd come to a consensus, committee, hearings, whatever, but they didn't want to do that. They wanted to find an end run around the legislature to cement it in the Constitution. That's why they're spending so much money. But you bring up a really good point as a mom, and the ramifications and adverse effects of marijuana are undeniable. You might not see it everywhere. You might have special interests out there spending a lot of money to be able to shovel a narrative about how great it is. But I was out with our surgeon general and he said, absolutely, you get addicted to this stuff. I mean, it's 25 to 30 times more potent than what we saw in the 1960s and 1970s. Certainly we see kids who are coming in and exhibiting schizophrenia and psychosis. And I mean, you see it. I don't know about you, Alibeth, but I mean, when I was in high school, I remember kids who were like on the football team. I mean, they were doing great in school, they were gregarious, I mean, just. And then they went down the path of marijuana and that was it. They came in, they were just dirty, their grades went to heck. I mean, they weren't doing athletics anymore. And so when you look at it, can anybody really make the argument that this is great for our kids, that importing this at mass, unregulated, essentially across the state, is going to be good for the well being of our children? I don't think you can. And when I was at a school in northeast Florida, I remember walking into one of the offices and on the wall they had all of these pamphlets talking about tobacco and the harms of tobacco and why you need to stop. I mean, at what point in time are we going to start seeing the warning, Marijuana, here's all of the problems that are associated with it because they're there. They might not be out in society the way that we know they are, but I mean, the evidence and the data, it's there. We just have to educate our kids. And to say that this is now recreational, what does that message send to our children? So it's problematic on so many levels. Yes, but if people really understood the truth, and understand too, when you go in Florida to vote on this stuff, you're going to see a summary. The summary does not do justice what the actual constitutional amendment says. It doesn't even get into the liability protections that I talked to you about. Ultimately, wherever this has been tried, it always leads to a black market, which is scary for our kids because, you know, when you Have a product, you regulate it, you tax it. The black market comes in and undercuts that price. Right. Well, the black market doesn't care if this stuff is clean. It's going to be laced with fentanyl. And so people are like, why would these companies give themselves liability protections? And police told me, they said, well, you know, we can't differentiate when we're looking at it, what's regulated through these cartels and what's on the black market. People are going to die as a result of this.

A (12:45)

And children, too. Because that includes. You talked about the gummies and the suckers. Those can also be laced with fentanyl.

B (12:54)

Yes, yes, 100%. All of this stuff, it's just. It's so scary. It's really egregious what they're trying to do. And, you know, again, this would open the door, and I think it's the last thing, and I'll let you go. I know you're busy, but this would really open the door to, like, you know, big pharma on steroids. How would you ever be able to stop a corporation if they think that. That they can usurp the legislature to spend, you know, $150 million to peddle false narratives to be able to get whatever product they want in perpetuity? I mean, the precedent that this sets is really bad, too. So.

A (13:27)

Yes. Well, thank you so much for the work that y'all are doing to inform voters about this. I have seen it. Y'all have done an excellent job. And so I. Well, I do want to ask, like, what is the. What is it looking? Like, which direction do you think these amendments will go?

B (13:42)

Well, you know, I'm gonna say I'm cautiously optimistic. Right. Cause I guess a lot of people, when they look at the election, they just, you know, you don't really know until, you know. The good thing about Florida is that, you know, we'll have our ballots cast and we'll have all of the votes counted at a decent hour, like 7 or 8 o'clock, unlike a lot of other states. But we're cautiously optimistic that they're both gonna fail. But you don't know. And so that's why you gotta really push until the very end. I think they're gonna be close, but 60% in Florida is a big threshold to over. And when people. I mean, the commercials are running on four. Really well done because they just. It's two sentences. They go into the language and people are like, wait a minute, that's extreme. So we're going to keep working through the finish line. So any air cover you could help give us would be awesome.

A (14:30)

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Everyone who is listening who can vote in the state of Florida, vote no on Amendment three and Amendment four. Thank you so much.

B (14:41)

Yeah. Thank you, Alibeth. God bless.