Pot firm suing GOP, Fort Myers TV stations in amendment fight
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s largest medical marijuana company filed a defamation lawsuit accusing the state Republican Party of launching an “intentionally deceptive campaign” to mislead voters about a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana.
With voting by mail already underway in the Nov. 5 election, the lawsuit filed by Trulieve, Inc. — which has spent nearly $93 million on the recreational-marijuana initiative — also accused the owners of two Fort Myers-based television stations of running a “demonstrably false” ad “trying to fool Florida voters” into voting against what will appear on the ballot as Amendment 3.
“The GOP knew that the claims in the deceptive mailer and ad were false, intentionally deceptive, and duplicitous but published them anyway in order to trick Florida voters into voting against a ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of cannabis in Florida,” the lawsuit said.