The latest in marijuana news?

The Miami New Times made an interesting, recent discovery: the owners of the loved Publix supermarket chain donated $800,000 to campaign against the legalization of medical marijuana in Florida.

This lobbying group, Drug Free Florida, uses scare-tactics campaigning to kill Florida’s medical marijuana amendments (but still, the vast majority of the country believes that medical marijuana should be legalized). Much of their campaign is based off of misinformation, half-truths, outright lies, and Reefer Madness-style videos.

Why Would Jenkins Barnett Donate So Much Money To This Anti-Marijuana Campaign?

The whole situation seems a little fishy to me… last month she stepped down from her role with the supermarket chain, Publix, due to her fighting Alzheimer’s disease (that’s not the fishy part). However, what is so interesting about this situation is recent research and studies have been released, concluding that medical marijuana can help with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

But I suppose that despite this hope for cannabis helping her disease, she truly does not like medical marijuana – after all, she has a history of publicly disliking it. In other words, this wasn’t the first time that Jenkins Barnett donated to the Drug Free Florida campaign. Back in 2014, she reportedly gave more that $500,000 to them. This year, she stepped it up to make sure Amendment 2 does not pass, allowing medical marijuana in Florida.

I can’t help but wonder if she hates medical marijuana so much, because it could be considered competition – Publix is also one of the largest pharmacies in the South, and legalized medical cannabis could theoretically cut into her family’s prescription-pill business.

Although she covered her tracks and hired a PR agent – clearly. Public spokesperson Maria Brous specifically states to the public and media that the donation was “not officially connected to Publix.”

 

So, many of us seem perplexed as to why she’s fighting so hard to keep pot out of Florida. But either way, she is probably just pissing away her money. According to a recently released poll, 77 percent of voters in Florida will support medical marijuana legalization.