Sen. Joe Gruters still wants to see rules in place for public smoking of marijuana, should decriminalization occur.
The Sarasota Republican refiled a bill (SB 986) to regulate all smoking in public. It’s a bill he first promised to pursue when he endorsed a Florida constitutional amendment allowing the legal adult use of cannabis in Florida, and he filed the bill even after the measure fell short of passage.
Gruters put the bill in the hopper again days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order rescheduling pot from Schedule I to Schedule III. While that does not legalize marijuana for recreational use, it significantly changes how law enforcement treats the drug. Schedule III includes drugs with a “moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence,” like products containing less than 90 milligrams of codeine per dosage unit (Tylenol with codeine), ketamine, anabolic steroids and testosterone.
Many observers see the move as a step closer to regular consumption of marijuana without the threat of arrest.
Gruters has always presented his bill as a guardrail against many of the issues surrounding legalization in other states, such as the constant presence of marijuana smoke. His bill adds marijuana to existing legislation about the health hazard of secondhand tobacco smoking.
“It’s time to decriminalize, and I think we can control the time, place and manner,” Gruters said when he filed a similar bill last year. “That last bit is where this bill comes into play. I think Florida does not want to be like Las Vegas or New York.”
It also clearly defines public smoking as consumption anywhere the broader public has access to, including streets, sidewalks, highways, public parks, public beaches, and the common areas, both inside and outside, of schools, hospitals, government buildings, apartment buildings, office buildings, lodging, establishments, restaurants, transportation facilities and retail shops.
The bill also includes vaping in the restrictions, including with both tobacco and marijuana products.
Of note, Gruters previously championed legislation that allows local governments to restrict smoking in public parks and beaches. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed that bill in 2022.
