The Florida Supreme Court has until Monday, April 1 to decide the fate of Amendment 3, an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana.
Last year the nonprofit political group Smart & Safe Florida campaign submitted 967,528 valid signatures on their initiative to legalize recreational marijuana, more than the 891,523 signatures required to put the measure a on the November, 2024 presidential election ballot. This was confirmed by the Florida Division of Elections.
Following the signatures being validated, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a legal challenge with the state Supreme Court, asking them to remove the legalization initiative from the November ballot based on technicalities in the proposal’s text. The Supreme Court has until April 1 to come to a decision on this issue.
Governor Ron DeSantis, who opposes legalizing marijuana, said in January that he does not belove the court will rule against the initiative, saying “I think the court is going to approve that. So it’ll be on the ballot”.
Most legal experts have have the same opinion, with most believing the Supreme Court will allow the initiative to appear on the November ballot.
If the measure does appear on the November ballot and it’s approved with a 60% majority (it requires 60% rather than 50% given it’s a constitutional amendment), the initiative would allow those 21 and older “to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise.” Licensed marijuana retail outlets would be allowed to distribute the plant, with any of the state’s licensed medical-marijuana dispensaries allowed to “acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell and distribute such products and accessories.”
Polling released in November found support among likely voters to be at 67%.
