Florida Governor Ron Desantis and his wife are coming under increasing scrutiny over their apparent use of millions in public settlement funds to bankroll a critical anti-cannabis legalization campaign.
In November 2024, amidst the presidential race, Florida went to the polls to vote on Amendment 3, which would have legalized the possession and sale of recreational cannabis for adults potentially creating the second-largest US cannabis market behind California.
However, while the initiative received a clear majority of 57.8% of the vote, it fell short of the 60% ‘supermajority’ threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment in the state.
This was in large part thanks to a high-profile campaign to oppose the amendment, which new documents reveal was closely connected to the DeSantis family.
On Friday, campaign finance records and documents were released to the Miami Herald and Miami Times, raising worrying questions over whether Medicaid dollars meant for the state were indirectly used to fund the anti-cannabis campaign.
This murky financial pipeline stemmed from a settlement between the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and health insurance giant Centene in September 2024.
Centene agreed to pay $67m to resolve allegations involving its pharmacy benefit management practices under the state’s Medicaid programme. The state directed $10m of that to the Hope Florida Foundation, a charitable initiative founded by Mrs Casey DeSantis.
According to internal board minutes and public filings reviewed by the Miami Herald and Politico, the Hope Florida Foundation awarded grants of:
- $5 million to the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Secure Florida’s Future initiative
- $5 million to Save Our Society from Drugs, a St. Petersburg-based nonprofit focused on drug prevention
While both grantees claimed the funds were intended for awareness campaigns and community engagement, they subsequently became the largest donors to the anti-Amendment 3 effort.
Within days of receiving the grants, both groups contributed millions to Keep Florida Clean, a political committee chaired by then-DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier, which led the charge against the cannabis initiative.
Keep Florida Clean ultimately transferred over $11.5 million to the Republican Party of Florida, which ran an aggressive television campaign opposing the measure.
The case has drawn criticism from inside the Republican party, and could have major implications for Mrs DeSantis’ fledgling political career amid reports she is exploring a bid for governor in 2026, once her husband’s term ends.
