Matt Gaetz helped set off Florida's marijuana 'green rush.' Some of his friends, allies scored big [View all]

ORLANDO — Less than 24 hours before the Florida Legislature passed the state’s first medical marijuana law in May 2014, Matt Gaetz and other members of the state House of Representatives rewrote the bill to limit who would be able to get in on the ground floor of what has since become a billion-dollar business.

A number of Gaetz’s friends and allies managed to squeeze through that narrow door. Among them:

— The brother of Gaetz’s friend and fellow state Rep. Halsey Beshears, who co-founded one of Florida’s first licensed marijuana companies and amassed a fortune currently valued at about $600 million — and became a major Republican Party donor.

— A Panhandle developer and client of Gaetz’s law firm who invested in another of the state’s first marijuana licensees and who, according to financial and court records, roughly tripled his money in two years.

Read more: https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2021/05/09/matt-gaetz-helped-set-off-floridas-marijuana-green-rush-some-of-his-friends-allies-scored-big/