Between January 2023 and October 2024, Smart & Safe Florida paid out roughly $130 million to GOP-aligned consulting and public relations firms to aid in its push to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of campaign finance records. Smart & Safe Florida’s messaging strategy leaned into traditionally conservative motifs with its ads, featuring pro-marijuana statements from law enforcement, using veterans as spokespeople, making extensive use of the word “freedom,” criticizing other drugs such as fentanyl, and highlighting the pro-cannabis stances of some Republican politicians.

Ax Media, which serves Republican clients including the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), was among the biggest payees of Smart & Safe Florida. It received more than $87 million from the pro-marijuana campaign primarily for services related to advertising and communications. Ax Media specializes in media consulting and advertising strategy.

“You can take one of two pathways here,” Hudson Institute senior fellow David Murray told the Washington Examiner. “Either money talks and Republicans who are running consulting and communications firms are available for hire if the money’s good and that they may not be thinking about their principles … or, the alternative approach, they are thinking about their own principles but they have a mistaken apprehension as to what the likely outcome would be of pursuing marijuana legalization.”

Murray, who holds a doctorate from the University of Chicago and specializes in drug policy, also said conservative proponents of marijuana legalization may, in good faith, believe that the dangers of illicit drug trade could be mitigated by supplanting its influence through the establishment of a legal market. Indeed, many of the ads produced by the professionals paid by Smart & Safe Florida make this same point.

“Illicit marijuana laced with illegal drugs like fentanyl has destroyed lives,” Gadsden County Sheriff Morris Young said in an advertisement for the cannabis legalization initiative. “Amendment 3 will save lives by making marijuana safe, regulated, and lab-tested. Amendment 3 will protect our community from dangerous illegal drugs while allowing law enforcement to focus on serious crimes.”

Amendment 3 was the constitutional amendment Floridians voted on that, if passed, would have legalized recreational cannabis.

Murray disputed the accuracy of these arguments by arguing that illegal dealers will fill gaps in the legal market by appealing to those who can’t legally purchase marijuana, such as minors, or by selling cannabis products or quantities otherwise prohibited by the state. Additionally, Murray cited recent studies documenting physical and psychological risks associated with cannabis consumption. He said the growing financial links between the marijuana lobby and GOP insiders could possibly lead to critics of legalization becoming marginalized, enabling legalization advocates to control the conservative narrative and diminishing the influence of critics.

“We’re going to pay a heavy price if the kinds of critical responses that would resist decriminalization or legalization get drowned out by the appearance of an unofficial body of conservatives that takes over and is in fact working mostly with those who are paying them a substantial sum of money to launder the image of marijuana,” Murray said.

Axiom Strategies, a consulting firm run by Republican strategist Jeff Roe, earned over $16.5 million for its work to help legalize marijuana in Florida. The firm specializes in media production, survey research, voter outreach, fundraising, and general political consulting.

Roe is a veteran GOP operative, and one of his most recent high-profile gigs was as a top strategist for Never Back Down, the primary super PAC responsible for boosting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) 2024 presidential campaign. DeSantis, notably, opposed the push to legalize marijuana in his state.

Smart & Safe Florida also employed some more novel strategies in pushing for marijuana legalization, paying online influencer Rogan O’Handley, known by his handle “DC_Draino,” more than $160,000 to push people to vote for the amendment in sponsored posts on Instagram.

Financial intermingling between the conservative movement and the marijuana lobby didn’t begin with Amendment 3 in Florida. The Cannabis Freedom Alliance was launched by Charles Koch of Koch Brothers fame in 2021 and functions as a nexus of libertarians and right-of-center organizations seeking less stringent laws on marijuana usage. Using Koch’s deep pockets, the alliance has hired federal lobbyists who work to shape legislation to be more pro-cannabis.

Some are pessimistic about the growing influence of the marijuana industry.

“It’s absolutely concerning,” Manhattan Institute fellow Charles Fain Lehman told the Daily Caller News Foundation, responding to the outlet’s reporting on an uptick in marijuana lobbying. “The evidence that marijuana is an addictive, harmful substance which harms kids and communities is overwhelming.”

Some recent studies have shown that marijuana usage is associated with cardiovascular disease, schizophrenia, and psychosis. About 22% of marijuana users develop cannabis use disorder, rendering them unable to cease using the substance even if it is causing them health or social issues, per a 2020 study.

“Big companies want to be able to sell it because an addictive product is an attractive product,” Lehman continued. “To make that market a reality, they are happy to spend millions denying basic facts about the drug they want to sell. The increase in lobbying is a reflection of the fact that Americans are starting to notice that legalization is a big mess and are getting less persuaded by the idea of legalization”

Smart & Safe Florida’s strategy of focusing on reaching Republicans to advance drug legalization appears to have been effective. Though the committee’s ballot initiative fell short of the 60% threshold necessary to pass, it did secure nearly 56% of the vote in a state President-elect Donald Trump won by over 13 points.

Other GOP-aligned firms that took money from Smart & Safe Florida included Remington Research Group, a GOP polling agency that made about $2.5 million working for marijuana legalization; Vanguard Field Strategies, a consulting firm that has worked for dozens of Republican campaigns and made over $14.6 million providing services for Smart & Safe Florida; WPA Intelligence, a data analytics firm that was paid about $1 million and previously assisted Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) and Cruz; and Targeted Victory, a large public relations firm run by veteran GOP operatives that Smart & Safe Florida paid roughly $4.5 million for its services.

Several smaller Republican-aligned organizations received hundreds of thousands of dollars for their work to legalize marijuana in Florida.

Smart & Safe Florida did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.