While he supports a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana, state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, said Thursday he will propose legislation that would ban smoking of all types in public places.
Gruters said the proposed amendment, which he expects to pass in November, is prompting the proposal. “This is all being driven as a result of Amendment 3 (the marijuana amendment), but I’d be in favor of it regardless of Amendment 3,” he told reporters.
Gruters, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida who is running for state chief financial officer in 2026, said his legislation would provide “guardrails” to protect the public. “This is easy to do. This is well within our authority. I think we can get ahead of this. That is the whole purpose of the bill. It is very simple,” Gruters said.
The bill would be filed for the 2025 legislative session, which will start in March. Gov. Ron DeSantis has criticized the proposed amendment, in part saying that if it passes, the state will start to “smell like marijuana.”
The Smart & Safe Florida political committee, which is sponsoring the proposed amendment, has said the measure would allow the state to regulate how, when and where marijuana can be used in public places similar to state tobacco and alcohol laws. Florida bans smoking in indoor workplaces and allows cities and counties to restrict smoking at beaches and parks that they own.
–News Service of Florida
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
I agree with Senator Gruters. If you’ve ever been to a city where it’s legal to smoke cigarettes, pot, or both in public places, you know how it stinks. People who don’t want to inhale those unhealthy fumes or have to smell air that’s thick with smoke shouldn’t be forced to do so. Parts of California smell terrible just from the number of nearby marijuana farms. That’s bad enough, but when the stuff is lit and all you want is to enjoy a restaurant meal, it’s gross. No parent should have to explain what that smell is to a child.
richard says
I don’t smoke — anything. Never did. Never will. BUT, this legislation amendment is absolutely aimed at the pot smokers and has little to do with the cigarette, cigar, vape, pipe, and other smokers’s habit of polluting everything around them with their noxious fumes. It bothers me that Ron DeSantis, chief of the GOP/MAGA morality police in FL is employing his minions to do his bidding once again, rubber stamping his “free state of Florida” programs that curb individual liberties rather than promote any kind of well-being or prosperity for the citizens of this state. He could not mount a Presidential campaign worth its salt, so he has come back in defeat armed with his vengeful sword to afflict the citizenry. Worst of all? He is getting his ignoble way.
Lee says
LMBO — these crazy republicans just get crazier !!
And our police will actually be expected to arrest each the public smokers?
Our Law Enforcement doesn’t have time to deal with the all the Uninsured Florida drivers in the great state & expect officers to ticket each & every smoker in public hahaha!!
They have bigger fish to fry ..
Where or who elects these nuts ?
Joseph Barand says
When are we going to address alcoholism, there are so many drunks driving cars and sitting behind desks in Tallahassee. The taxing of so called vices needs to be addressed now. Let’s compare the taxes on alcohol verses tobacco products. Insurance companies charge higher premiums for smokers but not for drinkers. When was the last time tobacco caused a accident? How many billions have the alcohol industry paid to states for health impacts cause by their products? It’s passed time that the government treats these products in an equal manner. The tax on tabacco products is many times the ax on alcohol products, yet alcohol causes more problems. The state does pay for any resulting health care for either product yet they give alcohol a free pass.
Pogo says
@And the smoke from book bonfires?
Just asking.
Probably will tell us it’s the replacement for napalm’s smell of victory.
doG bless Floridanam.
Skibum says
As much as I detest the stink of cigarette smoke anywhere near me whenever I am in a public space, I think it is supremely rich that only now, just as this state is on the cusp of legalizing recreational pot smoking, that Republicans are suddenly so concerned about the dangers of second-hand smoke and wanting to ban smoking in public. It has been a disgusting habit for a very long time! Cigarette butts have littered our roads, parking lots, sidewalks, parks and beaches for decades. Sometimes you have to walk through a gauntlet of icky cigarette smoke wafting around you right next to entrance doors of businesses because smokers are too self-absorbed and uncaring about others to restrict their nasty habit away from entrance and exit doors. It is a common sight to see drivers in front of you with their windows rolled down, inhaling cigarette smoke into their lungs in one moment, then hanging their left arm out the driver’s window to distance themselves from the cigarette smoke as if to acknowledge how disgusting it is to smell it themself but so willing to share the stink with everyone else in the vicinity. I could go on and on, but my point is that it seems that Florida is ALWAYS 30 years behind the times because this state’s horrible governor, gerrymandered legislature and possibly the general thinking of far too many people who live here just don’t seem to have a care in the world for the wellbeing of other people.