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Florida Marijuana Legalization and Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Sales Initiative (2022)

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Florida Marijuana Legalization and Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Sales Initiative
Flag of Florida.png
Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Marijuana
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
Citizens

The Florida Marijuana Legalization and Medical Marijuana Treatment Center Sales Initiative was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.

Measure design

The measure would have added a section to the Florida Constitution that would have legalized the personal possession, use, and purchase of 2.5 ounces of marijuana and allow Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers to sell marijuana for personal use to adults 21 years or older.[1]

Text of measure

The full text is available here.

Support

Make It Legal Florida led the campaign in support of the initiative.[2]

Arguments

  • Make It Legal Florida said, "It will boost our economy and generate more than a hundred million dollars per year in new revenue to fund important priorities such as schools, health care and public safety. It will help combat the opioid addiction crisis and free up law enforcement to protect us from violent criminals and sexual predators. The amendment includes strict rules to make sure that marijuana products are clearly labeled, childproof, and not advertised to children."[2]

Opposition

Floridians Against Recreational Marijuana (FARM) led the campaign against the initiative.[3]

Arguments

  • Brian Swensen of Floridians Against Recreational Marijuana said, "Our coalition has come together to defeat this dangerous ballot initiative, which will drive an increase in health care prices, increase costs on businesses and kill jobs and increase the burden on taxpayers that will pay for the costs associated with recreational marijuana."[4]

Background

Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative, 2016

Amendment 2 on the 2016 ballot legalized medical marijuana for individuals with specific debilitating medical conditions (cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis) or other debilitating conditions as determined by a licensed state physician. The initiative was approved by a vote of 71% to 29%.

Recreational marijuana in the United States

See also: History of marijuana ballot measures and laws

As of November 2020, 16 states and the District of Columbia had legalized marijuana for recreational purposes; nine through statewide citizen initiatives, and two through bills approved by state legislatures and signed by governors. Colorado and Washington both opted to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. In a subsequent Colorado measure, voters enacted a statewide marijuana taxation system. The three ballot measures that passed in 2014 were Oregon's Measure 91, Alaska's Measure 2, and the District of Columbia's Initiative 71. Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada approved recreational marijuana legalization ballot measures in November 2016. The Vermont State Legislature approved a bill in mid-January 2018 to allow recreational marijuana, and Gov. Phil Scott (R) signed it into law on January 22, 2018. Gov. Scott vetoed a previous bill to legalize marijuana in May 2017. On June 25, 2019, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law legalizing the use and possession of recreational marijuana. Initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana were on the ballot in November 2018 in Michigan and North Dakota. The Michigan initiative was approved, and the North Dakota initiative was defeated. Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota approved legalization through initiatives in 2020. New Jersey approved legalization through a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in 2020.[5][6]

The map below details the status of recreational marijuana legalization in the states as of November 2020. States shaded in green had legalized recreational marijuana usage (the shades of green indicate the years in which ballot measures were adopted; light green indicates measures approved in 2012, medium green indicates measures approved in 2014, medium-dark green indicates measures approved in 2016, and dark green indicates measures approved in 2018 and 2020). The states shaded in dark gray had defeated ballot measures that proposed to legalize recreational marijuana. States in blue had recreational marijuana approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor. The remaining states (those shaded in light gray) had not legalized recreational marijuana.

Recreational marijuana legalization measures, 2012-2020

The following table provides information on the political context of the states that had voted on legalization measures as of 2022.

Click "Show" to expand the table.


Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Florida

The state process

In Florida, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 8% of the votes cast in the preceding presidential election. Florida also has a signature distribution requirement, which requires that signatures equaling at least 8% of the district-wide vote in the last presidential election be collected from at least half (14) of the state's 28 congressional districts. Signatures remain valid until February 1 of an even-numbered year.[7] Signatures must be verified by February 1 of the general election year the initiative aims to appear on the ballot.

Proposed measures are reviewed by the state attorney general and state supreme court after proponents collect 25% of the required signatures across the state in each of one-half of the state's congressional districts (222,898 signatures for 2024 ballot measures). After these preliminary signatures have been collected, the secretary of state must submit the proposal to the Florida Attorney General and the Financial Impact Estimating Conference (FIEC). The attorney general is required to petition the Florida Supreme Court for an advisory opinion on the measure's compliance with the single-subject rule, the appropriateness of the title and summary, and whether or not the measure "is facially invalid under the United States Constitution."[8]

The requirements to get an initiative certified for the 2022 ballot:

  • Signatures: 891,589 valid signatures
  • Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was February 1, 2022. As election officials have 30 days to check signatures, petitions should be submitted at least one month before the verification deadline.

In Florida, proponents of an initiative file signatures with local elections supervisors, who are responsible for verifying signatures. Supervisors are permitted to use random sampling if the process can estimate the number of valid signatures with 99.5% accuracy. Enough signatures are considered valid if the random sample estimates that at least 115% of the required number of signatures are valid.

Details about this initiative

Attempt to qualify for 2020 ballot

  • September 9, 2019: The initiative, filed by Make it Legal Florida, was approved for signature gathering. Proponents were targeting the 2020 ballot.[9]
  • November 19, 2019: Proponents submitted 76,632 valid signatures, thereby qualifying for a ballot language review by the Florida Supreme Court.[9]
  • December 19, 2019: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) filed a brief with the Florida Supreme Court arguing the measure is misleading. She also said that "using and possessing the drug is and will still be a crime under federal law. Federal penalties for possessing the Schedule 1 Controlled Substance are and will remain significant. ... Facts matter. Before Florida voters are asked to make critical changes to our state constitution, those facts should be made clear. ... This initiative suggests to voters that their vote will allow for conduct that will remain illegal with significant penalties."[10]
  • December 31, 2019: Make it Legal Florida sued Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee and other elections officials, requesting the court to order the Secretary of State to accept signature petitions submitted to the supervisor of elections by February 1, 2020. The deadline for signatures to be certified by the Florida secretary of state in order to qualify initiated constitutional amendments for the 2020 Florida ballot was February 1, 2020. Since state law gives officials 30 days to verify signatures, petitioners needed to submit signatures on or before January 2, 2020, to guarantee that an initiative qualifies for the ballot in 2020. Nick Hansen, chairman of Make it Legal Florida, said, "Our request is that Florida’s Secretary of State, who has worked hard to ensure processes and rules are followed to the letter, count every signed petition submitted by January 31 toward the 2020 ballot, regardless of when it’s validated."[11] The lawsuit also challenged the constitutionality of Florida House Bill 5, passed by the Florida Legislature in 2019. Florida House Bill 5 required paid petition circulators to register with the secretary of state and provide information such as his or her name, address, date of birth, and a circulator affidavit; banned paying petitioners based on the number of signatures collected (pay-per-signature); and enacted other rules concerning statewide initiative petitions and local measures.[12]

Attempt to qualify for 2022 ballot

  • January 13, 2020: Make it Legal Florida announced that it would attempt to qualify the measure for the 2022 ballot rather than the 2020 ballot. The group wrote, "With the support of over 67 percent of Florida voters, Make it Legal Florida is proud to have gathered more than 700,000 signed petitions in the effort to bring adult-use cannabis to the Sunshine State. The narrow timeframe to submit and verify those signatures has prompted our committee to shift focus to now gain ballot access in 2022."[13] As of January 13, 2020, proponents had submitted 296,044 valid signatures, according to the state Division of Elections.[9]
  • January 29, 2020: The Florida Senate argued that since the measure is now targeting the 2022 ballot, the 2020 requirements do not apply and the Supreme Court should decline to review the measure's ballot language. The Senate argued, "since the initiative is not going to meet the criteria for placement on the 2020 ballot, such a review is moot." Make it Legal Florida argued it could qualify for the 2022 ballot if they collect 766,200 valid signatures before the 2020 presidential election. Signature requirements change based on the results of the 2020 presidential election.[14] The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments in the case on May 6, 2020.
  • April 8, 2020: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed Senate Bill 1794, which, among other things, requires the Florida Supreme Court to review whether a proposed amendment is "facially invalid under the United States Constitution" in addition to existing requirements for reviewing the ballot title and reviewing the initiative for compliance with the state's single-subject rule. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), the Florida House and Senate, and the Florida Chamber of Commerce, filed briefs with the state supreme court arguing that the measure is invalid because it violates federal law. Make It Legal Florida argued, "Under this (Supreme) Court’s precedent, ballot summaries are not required to recite the current state of federal law, or an amendment’s effect on federal law, nor must a ballot summary remind voters that they are voting to amend Florida’s Constitution rather than federal statutes. An amendment to Florida’s Constitution obviously cannot change federal law, just as it cannot change the law of California or Georgia. The ballot summary does not purport to effect such a change, nor could it. Florida voters do not require a lesson in these elementary civics principles, especially having voted on marijuana amendments in two out of the last three election cycles."[15]
  • May 6, 2020: The state supreme court heard arguments on May 6, 2020. State Solicitor General Amit Agarwal, who represented state Attorney General Ashley Moody, argued, "Voters should be told the truth. They should be given the tools that they need to make a fully informed decision on this ballot initiative. Voters right now are told, expressly and unqualifiedly, that the proposed amendment would permit something that it quite simply would not permit." George Levesque, representing Make It Legal Florida, argued, "We believe the text of our proposed amendment, and the summary that describes it, accurately, clearly and unambiguously informs the voter of what we are trying to do. In this case, to permit limited amounts of marijuana to be given to adults and for adults to be able to use that marijuana for any purpose that they need it for. We’re changing the only constitution that we can change. The only law we can change is Florida law."[16]
  • April 12, 2021: As of April 12, 2021, proponents had submitted 556,029 valid signatures, according to the state Division of Elections.[9]
  • April 22, 2021: The Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the measure could not appear on the 2022 ballot. The court wrote, "A constitutional amendment cannot unequivocally 'permit' or authorize conduct that is criminalized under federal law. And a ballot summary suggesting otherwise is affirmatively misleading." Justices Jorge Labarga and Alan Lawson dissented. Lawson said, "Because the ballot summary in this case complies with the constitutional and statutory requirements by which we are to judge ballot summaries, I would apply our precedent and approve this measure for placement on the ballot."[17]
  
Lawsuit overview
Issue: Whether the ballot language is misleading
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Ruling: Ruled in favor of plaintiffs; measure invalidated
Plaintiff(s): Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R)Defendant(s): State elections officials, Make it Legal Florida
Plaintiff argument:
The ballot title is misleading and inaccurately says it can legalize something that is illegal under federal law		Defendant argument:
The ballot title is not misleading; voters would understand the legalization of marijuana would remain illegal under federal law and would only be legalized in Florida

  Source: Tallahassee Democrat

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Florida Secretary of State, "Initiative #19-11," August 23, 2019
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Make It Legal Florida, "Home," accessed November 25, 2019
  3. ↑ Bay News 9, "PAC Formed to Oppose Recreational Marijuana in Florida," accessed November 25, 2019
  4. ↑ WPTV, "Floridians Against Recreational Marijuana ready to fight recreational pot efforts," accessed November 25, 2019
  5. ↑ The Hill, "Vermont governor vetoes marijuana legalization," May 24, 2017
  6. ↑ Associated Press, "Illinois becomes 11th state to allow recreational marijuana," June 25, 2019
  7. ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
  8. ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Florida Secretary of State, "Initiative 19-11 Overview," accessed August 26, 2019
  10. ↑ Florida Politics, "Ashley Moody argues against pot legalization initiative," accessed December 20, 2019
  11. ↑ Marijuana Moment, "Florida Marijuana Lawsuit: ‘Stealth Deadline’ Means Legalization Might Miss 2020 Ballot," accessed January 1, 2020
  12. ↑ Marijuana Moment, "Florida Marijuana Lawsuit: ‘Stealth Deadline’ Means Legalization Might Miss 2020 Ballot," accessed January 1, 2020
  13. ↑ Florida Politics, "Make It Legal Florida punts on 2020 ballot initiative after sluggish petition drive," accessed January 13, 2020
  14. ↑ News 4 Jax, "Backers say recreational pot issue ‘moot’," accessed January 29, 2020
  15. ↑ Orlando Weekly, "New Florida law used against recreational marijuana proposal," accessed April 16, 2020
  16. ↑ CBS Miami, "Florida Justices Weigh Recreational Marijuana Proposal," accessed May 6, 2020
  17. ↑ Tallahassee Democrat, "Florida Supreme Court strikes proposed measure legalizing recreational use of marijuana," accessed April 22, 2021
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