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Florida Marijuana Use and Growth Legalization Initiative (2022)

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Florida Marijuana Use and Growth Legalization 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 Use and Growth Legalization Initiative was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.[1]

On January 11, 2022, the campaign announced that it had not gathered the required number of signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot and said they would begin a new campaign targeting the 2024 ballot on February 2, 2022. Since signatures remain valid until February 1 of even-numbered years, the campaign would have a signature collection period of two years.[2]

Measure design

The measure would have legalized the personal use, growth, transport, and possession of marijuana for individuals 21 years of age and older and allow individuals to grow up to nine marijuana plants with 18 maximum per household.[1]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The proposed title was as follows:[1]

“ Legalizes Personal Use Marijuana for Adults Twenty-One or Older, Permits Adults to Cultivate Marijuana.[3] ”

Ballot summary

The proposed ballot summary was as follows:[1]

“ Legalizes Marijuana for adults age twenty-one or older for personal use, to possess, use, process, transport marijuana, marijuana products and marijuana accessories, permits cultivating nine live marijuana plants per adult with eighteen plants maximum per household. Preserves current medical marijuana law by repealing Note 1 A. of Florida Statute 381.986 2020. Prevents legislature from limiting marijuana Tetrahydrocannabinol percentage. Does not permit selling marijuana. Does not immunize federal law violations.[3] ”

Full text

The full text is available here.

Support

Sensible Florida, also known as Regulate Florida, sponsored the initiative.[1]

Supporters

Supporters included the following:[4]

  • Trulieve
  • NORML of Florida
  • Sunshine Cannabis
  • Cannabis Executive Council

Arguments

Regulate Florida said, "Regulate Florida is the fastest growing grassroots movement collecting petitions to bring sensible reform to Florida’s laws. The mission of Regulate Florida is to create a practical and enforceable framework for adult use of marijuana. Through a program of regulation and education, we will limit access to minors, prevent abuse and curtail driving while impaired. We will enable the creation of jobs and allow consenting and informed adults to choose to use cannabis responsibly rather than be labeled as criminals, while reducing the use of limited law enforcement resources."[5]

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not identify committees, organizations, or individuals opposing the ballot initiative. If you are aware of any opponents or opposing arguments, please send an email with a link to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Background

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.[6][7]

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.[8] 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."[9]

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 the initiative

  • The initiative was approved for circulation on September 14, 2021.[1]

Previous attempts to qualify the initiative

2016 ballot

Initiative 16-02, sponsored by Sensible Florida, was originally approved for circulation on March 17, 2016, targeting the November 2016 ballot. Supporters needed to collect a minimum of 68,314 valid signatures to have the petition reviewed by the Attorney General of Florida and 683,149 signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2016 ballot. The Regulate Florida campaign announced in December 2015 that it would not be able to obtain the required number of signatures. Campaign manager Michael Minardi said, “We had an uphill battle, honestly with getting a million signatures realistically from the end of August until December. We did believe with the movement and the momentum that we had that we could get this done, but unfortunately, we don’t think we’re going to at this point.”[10][11]

2020 ballot

Sponsors needed to submit 76,632 valid signatures (10% of the number of signatures required statewide coming from at least 7 of Florida’s congressional districts) for a ballot language review, in which the secretary of state forwards the petition to the attorney general who requests an advisory opinion from the Florida Supreme Court on whether or not the measure complies with the single-subject rule and whether or not the ballot title and summary are appropriate.

On August 12, 2019, the measure qualified for a ballot language review. Attorney General Ashley Moody argued that the measure's language was unclear. Moody said, "There is no way 10 pages of the law can be summarized clearly in 75 words or less and would adequately convey to the voters what exactly they will be voting on. That is why I will ask the Florida Supreme Court to seriously consider the sheer length and ambiguous language chosen by the sponsor when reviewing the legality of this proposed initiative."[12] On December 16, 2019, proponents announced they would not have enough signatures to qualify for the 2020 ballot.[13]

2022 ballot

The Florida Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the measure's ballot language on February 4, 2020.[14] On June 17, 2021, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2, with the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Charles Canady, that the measure's ballot language was misleading and therefore could not appear on the 2022 ballot.[15] The group filed a revised version of the initiative (#21-17) on September 14, 2021. On January 11, 2022, the campaign announced that it had not gathered the required number of signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot and said they would begin a new campaign targeting the 2024 ballot on February 2, 2022. Since signatures remain valid until February 1 of even-numbered years, the campaign would have a signature collection period of two years.[16]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 21-17," accessed September 18, 2021
  2. ↑ Marijuana Moment, "Florida Marijuana Activists Pivot To 2024 For Legalization Ballot Initiative," accessed January 11, 2022
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  4. ↑ Regulate Florida, "About," accessed September 20, 2021
  5. ↑ Regulate Florida, "About," accessed September 20, 2021
  6. ↑ The Hill, "Vermont governor vetoes marijuana legalization," May 24, 2017
  7. ↑ Associated Press, "Illinois becomes 11th state to allow recreational marijuana," June 25, 2019
  8. ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
  9. ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
  10. ↑ “Initiative Information,” accessed September 10, 2015
  11. ↑ Florida Politics, "BID TO LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA WILL NOT MAKE IT ON 2016 BALLOT IN FLORIDA," December 9, 2015
  12. ↑ WPTV, "Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody tries to scuttle marijuana amendment," accessed September 13, 2019
  13. ↑ Miami New Times, "Florida Petition to Legalize Marijuana Dies From Lack of Signatures," accessed September 27, 2021
  14. ↑ WLRN, "Florida Supreme Court Set February Arguments On Assault Weapons, Pot," accessed September 24, 2019
  15. ↑ Patch, "Florida Supreme Court Blocks A Second Pro-Pot Citizens Initiative From The 2022 Ballot," accessed June 18, 2021
  16. ↑ Marijuana Moment, "Florida Marijuana Activists Pivot To 2024 For Legalization Ballot Initiative," accessed January 11, 2022
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