With enough signatures, marijuana amendment will be reviewed by Florida Supreme Court

Yahoo

04-06-2025

A ballot initiative to permit recreational use of marijuana for adults in Florida obtained enough signatures this week to trigger a legally-mandated financial and judicial review.
Smart and Safe Florida, the group sponsoring the constitutional amendment, gathered more than 377,000 signatures verified by local elections supervisors, according to the state Division of Elections website. This surpasses a threshold of 220,000 signatures for the state-required review.
Attorney General James Uthmeier must now transmit the language to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, which must find clear, single-subject language in the proposed ballot text.
The initiative allows adults at least 21 years old to possess, purchase or use marijuana for nonmedical purposes. It also prohibits marketing toward children and smoking or vaping in public.
This language is slightly different from a marijuana initiative last year that gathered about 56% support from Florida voters, falling short of the state's 60% threshold needed for passage. It initially did not specify any prohibitions for marketing toward children or public use of marijuana.
2024 Elections: Recreational marijuana in Florida snuffed out after amendment falls short of 60%
In addition to its multiple hurdles to become a proposed amendment on the 2026 midterm ballot, Smart & Safe Florida is arguing that a new state law on ballot petitions is infringing on First Amendment rights.
The organization filed an emergency motion to a federal judge May 30, saying the state's new prohibition on non-resident petition circulators has "injured" the organization's "number of people to carry their message to the public."
The law, signed promptly by Gov. Ron DeSantis, increased restrictions and potential penalties to groups seeking to propose a ballot initiative. One such restriction is by limiting each volunteer to only collect 25 petitions, which Smart & Safe Florida argued in their motion already has limited the capability of their volunteer network.
In their motion, the organization said that the state law's nonresident provision is "very likely the difference between" the amendment getting on the ballot or not.
The marijuana amendment's downfall was a shocking result in the November elections, since many surveys found enough support from Floridians for it to pass and it was also among the most expensive ballot measure campaigns in the country.
Yet the campaign against it, spearheaded by DeSantis and other state leaders, included months spent arguing its passage would have deep implications for the state's tourism.
DeSantis said at the time that Florida residents would smell a weed stench in the air, and he said the proposal's purpose was mainly to benefit large marijuana companies seeking profits.
More recently, the money to defeat the marijuana initiative was called into question by House lawmakers who investigated the foundation behind First Lady Casey DeSantis' signature initiative, Hope Florida.
Lawmakers accused the fundraising arm of that program of improperly funneling part of a $67 million Medicaid contractor's settlement to the political committee that targeted the ballot amendment, headed by Uthmeier, the governor's then-chief of staff.
Round two: After 2024 failure, backers of Florida recreational marijuana amendment try again for 2026
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: Recreational marijuana effort in Florida advances toward 2026 ballot