Florida Needs 900,000 Signatures to Get Adult-Use On The Ballot

By Hunter Dublin | August 10, 2022

A new campaign launched on Monday wants to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida. According to WJCT News, the movement is supported by the state's largest medicinal cannabis firm. Smart and Safe Florida's initial advertisement featured country music artists, the Bellamy Brothers.

The suggested petition text for a constitutional amendment is as follows:

"Allows adults 21 years and above to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or other means; authorizes Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers and other state-licensed entities to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories." It only applies to Florida law; it does not affect or exclude breaches of federal law. Limits personal possession for personal purposes. This enables consistent rules. Terms are defined. It specifies the effective date."

Trulieve, a medical cannabis firm, is donating $5 million to the push to get the proposal on the ballot in 2024. According to Kim Rivers, CEO of Trulieve, the modification is "all about enhancing access."

In 2016, Florida voters adopted a constitutional amendment to allow medicinal cannabis with 71% of the vote. Previous attempts to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida have failed due to legal challenges before the state Supreme Court. Still, Rivers said the plan was designed with the state's single-subject rule for initiatives in mind.

"Any amendment in the state of Florida needs to be extremely careful in terms of single issues with this court," she told WJCT, "and so I do know that there was a very great attention on keeping this very centered around permitting adult usage and then enabling the Legislature to craft policies."

Qualification for the ballot requires 900,000 valid signatures from petitioners.