First Amendment fight grows over Florida marijuana petition rules

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4 days ago

A group proposing an adult-use marijuana ballot initiative on Aug. 12 asked a judge for "complete relief" against a state law regulating petition gathering.
The reason: The case implicates First Amendment rights, meaning Florida's state attorneys should not be allowed to enforce the law alongside other state officials and county supervisors of elections.
Tallahassee attorney Glenn Burhans, representing Smart and Safe Florida, said in an Aug. 12 telephonic hearing before U.S. District Judge Mark Walker that one focus of the case is to preserve First Amendment freedoms to petition government. Smart and Safe Florida is proposing a constitutional amendment for adult-use marijuana in the 2026 elections.
He said that, in a preliminary injunction granted last month, Walker already found a provision of the law disallowing nonresidents and noncitizens from circulating petitions to be unconstitutional. (A preliminary injunction can be granted early in a lawsuit to temporarily stop something, like enforcement of a law, until the case is fully decided.)
"I think Smart and Safe clearly has standing to challenge the nonresident circulator criminal penalties," Burhans told Walker. He continued to say that nonresident circulators should be able to continue collecting petitions without state attorneys being able to enforce the new state law against them.
"The harm is traceable and addressable as to the state attorneys, and in order to get complete relief, frankly, Smart and Safe needs to have the state attorneys enjoined so that their circulators, the nonresidents, will go back out in the field and do their work."
Last month, Walker wrote in his order that prohibiting nonresidents and noncitizens from circulating petitions "impose a severe burden on political expression." That's why Walker agreed that the groups could potentially succeed in these First Amendment challenges.
Mohammad Jazil, outside counsel for Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, brought up concerns for jurisdictional issues, saying bringing another preliminary injunction could be problematic while the state is already challenging the most recent injunction in appellate court.
"An order on a P.I. motion is not an invitation to file another P.I. motion, but that's where we stand," Jazil said.
Along with Smart and Safe, the petition groups challenging HB 1205, which went into effect July 1, include Florida Decides Healthcare (backing Medicaid expansion) and Florida Right to Clean Water.
Smart and Safe Florida's ballot initiative made it to Florida's general election ballot last year, but it failed to meet the state's required threshold of 60% support from voters. The group is repeating its efforts from last year, since it initially did not specify any prohibitions for marketing toward children or public use of marijuana.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at [e-mail]. On X: @stephanymatat.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida cannabis petition battle centers on free speech rights
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