Why does John Morgan want weed to be legal in Florida? What to know about the TV attorney

Attorney John Morgan — the guy on all those billboards — has come out in favor of Florida's recreational marijuana constitutional amendment on the ballot this November.

Morgan announced Wednesday that he would be advocating for the amendment to make marijuana legal for Floridians 21 years of age or older in multiple audio ads. Which is not surprising, as Morgan, the so-called "Pot Daddy," has advocated for legalized marijuana for years and led the charge that resulted in legalized medical marijuana in the state.

"I'm back for this amendment," Morgan said at a press conference in Orlando on behalf of Smart & Safe Florida, the group leading the amendment's campaign. "I believe in the people of Florida. I believe they're going to legalize it. I believe it's going to be tight."

Who is John Morgan?

John Bryan Morgan, 68, is widely known as the founder of Morgan & Morgan, which claims to be the largest personal injury firm in the country. Morgan has been seen photoshopped into racecars, bodybuilder beach bodies and superhero outfits, all while advertising the firm's work "For the People."

Morgan was born in Lexington, Kentucky, but moved with his parents and four younger siblings to Winter Park, Florida when he was 14. Both his parents were alcoholics, he said, and as the family struggled Morgan started working at Dairy Queen, started several businesses, performed magic at Disney World and even put on the costumes and portrayed "The Jungle Book" orangutan King Louie, one of the Three Little Pigs and Pluto.

He graduated from Winter Park High and, after seeing how Disney's lawyers "crushed" his brother Tim after he was injured while working as a lifeguard at Disney World's Polynesian Resort, he went on to get a bachelor's degree in arts from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law where he served as the elected president of the prestigious Florida Blue Key leadership society.

Morgan started at the law firm of Billings, Morgan (no relation) & Cunningham in Orlando but left to co-found Griffin, Morgan and Linder in 1985. After three years he left to found Morgan, Collins & Gilbert, where he could be more aggressive with television and radio ads, still a relatively new thing at the time for lawyers. The firm rapidly grew as Morgan continuously pushed for more ads on TV, phone book covers and highways.

In 2005 Morgan bought out his partners and renamed the firm Morgan & Morgan, bringing in his wife Ultima Ann Degnan as a partner. The law firm currently has over 1,000 attorneys and thousands of support members with offices in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. according to the company's website. Three of the couple's four children work for the firm.

Morgan, a huge and longtime political donor, has worked as an advisor to political leaders and presidents and counts Barack Obama and Bill Clinton among his friends. For a time former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist worked for him.

John Morgan and weed

Marijuana does not have a more devoted advocate in Florida than John Morgan.

When Morgan was 20, his then-18-year-old brother Tim dove into the pool at a Disney resort and broke his neck, leaving his arms and legs paralyzed. Only pot, Morgan said, seemed to help.

"He suffers in ways I cannot begin to describe," Morgan said in 2014. "I asked him one time, 'What do they [the spasms] feel like?' He said, 'Like lightning up your body from the tip of your toe into the middle of your eyes.' … When the pain becomes unbearable, he lights it [the marijuana]. He takes one hit, and all the pain goes away. Who wouldn't want their brother to be pain-free?"

He also said that only marijuana helped his father ease nausea and pain when he was dying of cancer.

In 2013, Morgan launched a campaign to get medical marijuana on the ballot, promoting it nonstop and even going viral with a profanity-laced rant at a pro-pot rally. It was opposed by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, state sheriffs and major Republican leaders and donors and failed the next year. He tried again, sinking millions of his own money into the fight, and in 2016 medical marijuana passed with 71% of the vote.

The fight wasn't over, though, as Florida legislators passed a law banning smokeable weed, something Morgan argued was against the will of the voters. Morgan sued the state and ultimately the law was dropped thanks to efforts from U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and new Governor Ron DeSantis.

“What I set out to do, I’ve done — to have medical marijuana approved in all forms for people who are sick in Florida,” Morgan said, reported in Orlando Magazine. “People come up to me and thank me and cry. It’s one of the greatest things I’ve done with my money in my life.”

He has also advocated for legal recreational marijuana nearly every year since.

Watch John Morgan endorse Florida's recreational marijuana amendment

Is John Morgan running for governor of Florida?

Hard to say. But he does hint at it.

“Today, too many adults are sitting in our jails simply because they were using marijuana, and that is just wrong,” Morgan said Wednesday. “If I was your governor, I would free or parole any person in jail for possession, and then expunge everyone’s record.”

Reporters asked him about that during the press conference and he just said he was 68 and lived in Hawaii half the year. But he didn't say no.

"I might, but if I did it would be the most unusual (campaign), it would only be third party, it wouldn't be like anything you'd ever seen before," he said.

It's not the first time he's floated the idea. In the runup to the 2018 election Morgan said he was considering a run.

And this January, while criticizing DeSantis for taking credit for the state's minimum wage hike (which Morgan promoted), he tweeted "Maybe I should run for Governor... as an Independent."

Contributing: Douglas Soule, USA TODAY Network-Florida

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Morgan & Morgan head endorses Florida recreational marijuana amendment