Longtime marijuana advocacy groups absent from 2024 ballot in FL, ND

Regulated marijuana is a reality in more than half the country – and federal cannabis reform efforts have advanced further than ever in Washington, D.C. – thanks in large part to ballot initiative campaigns largely funded, organized and run by nonprofit advocacy groups.

But this year, familiar outfits such as the Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project and New Approach are conspicuously absent from the adult-use marijuana legalization campaigns in Florida and North Dakota, according to public records and reporting by MJBizDaily.

In their place are marijuana industry-funded campaigns that, according to some critics, benefit state-regulated operators at the expense of free-access goals long held by cannabis legalization advocates.

Long-simmering shift in responsibility

The situation on display in Florida and North Dakota are the latest examples of a long-term development that’s seeing the responsibility for marijuana reform shift to the cannabis companies that would benefit most directly from legalization and away from philanthropic donors, many of whom have moved onto other interests such as psychedelics.

It’s also a consequence of the fundraising woes many longtime legalization organizations are suffering.

In a twist, marijuana advocates’ successful legalization campaigns are partly to blame for tightening purse strings: Continued wins have diminished the sense of urgency cannabis champions felt a decade ago, even as the plant remains prohibited in populous states such as Texas – and, of course, under federal law.

‘The torch has been passed’

Longtime advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project was chiefly responsible for Colorado’s Amendment 64 campaign in 2012.

The nonprofit group contributed staff time worth more than $70,000 to North Dakota’s failed adult-use legalization campaign in 2022, records show, as well as $175,000 in funding the successful 2023 recreational marijuana effort in Ohio.

New Approach Advocacy Fund was the single-largest donor to the 2022 North Dakota effort, contributing nearly $340,000 – more than half of the roughly $616,000 total.

Neither MPP nor New Approach has contributed to the 2024 marijuana legalization efforts in Florida and North Dakota.

That’s partially because – at least in MPP’s case – the organization has less money to offer than it’s had in recent years, said Brian Vicente, the Denver-based founding partner of Vicente law firm and MPP’s current board chair.

MPP recently ended its lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., as public disclosures show.

The group also is on the lookout for a new full-time executive director after talks of a possible merger with NORML ended this spring.

The most recent nonprofit disclosure forms, from 2022, show MPP operating in the red.

That outlook has since improved, according to Vicente, but not to an extent that the donor-funded group can compete with marijuana multistate operators for dollars.

“If you look at Florida,” where the current campaign has raised nearly $83 million, “that is not something a philanthropist or a nonprofit could cover,” Vicente said.

“The torch has been passed, but nonprofits are still relevant,” he added.

That relevance includes campaign experience as well as credibility with voters – resources the two major legalization efforts at play this year are leaving untapped, at least so far.

North Dakota Measure 5

This year, the New Economic Frontier campaign in North Dakota has raised $226,500 – nearly all of it from licensed medical marijuana businesses in the state.

That includes more than $186,000 from Pure Dakota, which operates dispensaries in Bismarck and Fargo, and $40,000 from an affiliate of Curaleaf Holdings, a marijuana multistate operator, records show.

If passed by voters, the measure would see sales launch by Oct. 1, 2025, under a “highly regulated” framework, according to authors of Measure 5, the ballot initiative.

November will mark the third time in six years that marijuana legalization will go before North Dakota voters, who rejected the 2022 effort by a 55%-45% margin.

And so far, outside help hasn’t been secured.

“We haven’t been reached out to for financial support,” said Steve Bakken, a radio host and former mayor of Bismark, North Dakota, who is serving as the campaign chair.

Bakken emphasized that this year’s effort is “from the grassroots” and funded and run by residents and businesses in North Dakota, where voters are suspicious of outsiders.

That said, “If someone in the nonprofit world wants to hop on board and promote this, we’d be very happy to embrace them,” Bakken added.

Graham Boyd, co-founder and executive director of New Approach, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Boyd worked closely with the late Progressive Auto Insurance founder Peter Lewis, whose fortune largely funded New Approach.

Florida Amendment 3

Already the most expensive marijuana legalization campaign in history at $82.8 million and counting, the Smart & Safe Florida campaign’s top source of funds is Tallahassee-based Trulieve Cannabis Corp.

The biggest marijuana operator in Florida with more than 200 medical marijuana retail locations, Trulieve has contributed $75.3 million toward Smart & Safe Florida’s campaign to pass constitutional Amendment 3 in November.

That measure, which needs 60% voter support to pass, would legalize adult-use cannabis and allow existing medical marijuana treatment centers to offer adult-use sales.

Amendment 3 does not legalize marijuana home grows, nor does it include a social equity program or guarantee any new entrants into the market, which would require further action by the state Legislature.

A Smart & Safe campaign spokesperson did not respond to MJBizDaily’s requests for comment.

According to Matthew Schweich, Marijuana Policy Project’s interim executive director, MPP offered its expertise in running and winning campaigns to Smart & Safe, which has yet to respond.

“Given the prominence of the campaign, given it’s the most expensive in history and given that Florida is one of the most populous states in the country, I was expecting that there would be more demand for our assistance,” Schweich said.

“All that being said, they’re running a good campaign, and they have a clear path to victory,” he added.

“We wish them all the success, regardless of how we end up being involved.”

Polling for Amendment 3 is split, with one recent tally of voters showing 56% in favor, shy of the 60% threshold.

Smart & Safe did receive boosts from former President Donald Trump, a Florida voter, who said on social media over Labor Day weekend that he believes the measure will pass.

Then, in a Truth Social post on Sunday night, Trump said he’d vote for Amendment 3, making him the first major presidential candidate to say he would vote for marijuana legalization.

Trump irked some marijuana advocates, however, when he added that the Florida Legislature should ban public consumption.

Cannabis power brokers

At least some marijuana interests, such as hemp operators advertising cannabis flower via the THCA loophole, are opposing Amendment 3.

This is one recent example of divides in the larger cannabis movement, where sought-after policy reforms such as the ability to list on U.S. stock exchanges – something that mostly would benefit MSOs – don’t enjoy the same broad support as the Biden administration’s rescheduling effort, which would benefit all plant-touching operators via tax reform.

But as marijuana companies grow and deploy more resources, anti-legalization interests might start hitting the industry with critiques – that cannabis is just another Big Tobacco, for example – warned attorney and former Massachusetts cannabis regulator Shaleen Title.

“The focus on profit might be responsible for changing trends on perceptions of marijuana,” Title said, referring to the recent Gallup Poll that found a slim majority of Americans view the drug as having a negative impact on society and its users – a shift from the last time the question was asked.

“As legalization efforts transition from being led by consumers and patients to being led by profit-seeking executives and shareholders, people will stop supporting legalization,” she added.

According to that line of thinking, a nonpartisan nonprofit could be an effective messenger and architect for cannabis reform measures that opponents couldn’t so easily criticize.

Said MPP’s Vicente: “If you have for-profit entities writing the laws, hopefully they’ll realize by talking to MPP that they’ll have a better chance of passing these laws if there are social equity and criminal justice provisions in there.”

Chris Roberts can be reached at chris.roberts@mjbizdaily.com.