INDIANTOWN, Fla. — In a nondescript complex in rural Indiantown, you might find the least humid place in Florida.
Matt Fauver showed WPTV where harvested cannabis is hung to dry for a little over a week. He said it's important to keep the product, which is sold for prescription use in Florida, in dark, dry, and cool conditions that are closely monitored and maintained by equipment.
Humidity is one of the many things Fauver, the director of cultivation, and his roughly 200 colleagues at Cresco Labs have to control in the cultivation facility in order to ensure consistency and compliance with a volume of state regulations on marijuana.
"There's a lot of misconceptions about the cleanliness or the viability of a product," Fauver said. "I mean, it's tested. It's more rigorous than the pharmaceutical industry."
Cresco grows, processes and packages cannabis products on site, and sells those products in its Sunnyside stores throughout Florida.
Each marijuana plant is cloned from a "mother" plant, in order to maintain similar genetic traits. The plants are individually tagged and tracked, in accordance with state law.
Fauver said this prevents theft from the facilities and allows officials to better investigate any issues that may arise down the road.
The plants are moved to different climate and light-controlled areas of the facility throughout their life, in conditions designed to avoid contamination. Once the flower is harvested, samples are sent to an outside lab for testing, to make sure the product is not contaminated.
Samples of finished products are also sent to the lab for testing once they're packaged.
"I never thought I was going to be in the cannabis industry in my lifetime," said David Grelck, Cresco's manager of post-harvest operations. "I'm at that age where I grew up, and it was highly illegal-- very taboo, you know-- the egg smashing on the pan. 'This is your brain on drugs.'"
Now Grelck and his colleagues make sure the facility is ready for state inspectors every quarter.
"We have a safe and legal market already. We have a medical program. People do use it," said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference in West Palm Beach Wednesday. "It is used in ways that were not originally advertised, but it is what it is."
The governor has made it clear he does not support a Amendment 3, which would allow recreational use for adults if the measure passes. DeSantis argues it will pose safety hazards for children and fill public spaces with the smell of marijuana smoke.
"I have not seen any outcry of people from Colorado, California-places that have gone down this road, that say, 'Man, you should do what we did. It's worked out really well.' Nobody says that," DeSantis said.
"I wouldn't say that's true," said Fauver, who is from California and recently moved to Florida. "I think the only people who would regret that were the black market growers, because they're no longer able to make the money they once made."
Constitutional amendments in Florida require 60% of voters to vote "yes" in order to pass. If Amendment 3 passes, state lawmakers would have six months to put regulations in place before adult recreational use becomes legal.
The amendment would automatically convert the medical marijuana licenses that cannabis businesses must maintain to allow them to sell to adults over 21 without a prescription.
WPTV's previous on Amendment 3:
Elections Local
Why DeSantis says legal recreational marijuana will hurt 'quality of life'
Elections Local
Even if Amendment 3 passes, you won't find dispensaries here
WPTV Investigates
FACT CHECK: WPTV looks at claims by Amendment 3 opponents
Elections Local
Understanding Florida's 6 amendments on the ballot
State
