By: Kristen Hernandez
Fort Lauderdale – In a move years in the making, Florida voters may see an amendment on the 2024 Presidential ballot to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. The Florida Marijuana Legalization Initiative, sponsored by a committee from Safe & Smart Florida, has already raised nearly $40 million dollars to support the initiative. Possessing or smoking marijuana would still be considered illegal according to Federal law.
Opposition to the proposed amendment has become the subject of a Florida Supreme Court battle. Last week, Florida Chief Deputy Solicitor General, Jeffrey P. DeSousa, claimed the verbiage of the amendment was misleading and deceived voters.
“What they should have said is the amendment eliminates state law penalties and liability for certain uses of marijuana,” DeSousa said. “That’s far more accurate. They don’t want to do that because it’s less sexy, less appealing to voters.”
Florida Attorney General, Ashley Moody, said in past statements the initiative could help the statewide dominance of medical marijuana treatment center, Trulieve, who’s raised a big chunk of Smart & Safe’s $40 million. Trulieve dominates medical marijuana operations throughout the state with 21.7% of the market (141 locations), according to the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice, Carlos G. Munoz, disagreed that the language is misleading, and appeared to favor the amendment. The Court has until April 1st, 2024, to make a ruling. If no decision is made, the measure has enough votes to appear on the ballot.
If voters pass the amendment, the initiative will legalize recreational marijuana for adults aged 21 and over and allow residents to possess up to three ounces. It would not authorize people to grow their own marijuana plants.
“In 2020, when the state lost more than 400,000 jobs, Florida’s cannabis industry added 15,000 employees,” a representative from Smart & Safe Florida said. “There is no evidence that legalizing marijuana for recreational use at the state level, as 37 states already have done, has boosted underage consumption. The continued black-market sale of marijuana perpetuates a culture of criminality. If adult-use cannabis is legalized, Florida users will have accountability, transparency, and regulations in place to ensure products are not laced with or contain potentially deadly chemicals.”
In August, the government’s Health and Human Services Department recommended loosening the federal restrictions on marijuana and moving the flower from the “Schedule I” group to “Schedule III”, which is less heavily regulated. “Schedule I” drugs are deemed to have “no current accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”. About half of the country’s states have made recreational marijuana legal.
State economists reported that recreational cannabis could be worth over $1.7 billion in revenue for the state if legalized. And since Florida voters legalized the sale of medical marijuana back in 2016 with 70% approval, it has already become a billion-dollar business.
