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Florida Medical Marijuana Plants Initiative (2022)
| Florida Medical Marijuana Plants Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2022 | |
| Topic Marijuana | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin Citizens |
The Florida Medical Marijuana Plants Initiative (Initiative #18-05) was not on the ballot in Florida as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 8, 2022.[1]
Measure design
The measure would have amended Amendment 2 (2016), which legalized medical marijuana in Florida, to redefine "medical use" under the measure to include growing up to nine marijuana plants. The measure would have also added a definition for "marijuana plant."[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The proposed title was as follows:[2]
| “ | Marijuana Plants for Medical Marijuana Patients[3] | ” |
Ballot summary
The proposed ballot summary was as follows:[2]
| “ | Allows qualifying medical marijuana patients or their caregivers to grow marijuana plants for medical use. Redefines medical use of marijuana to include growing up to nine mature flowering marijuana plants, and possessing the harvest therefrom. Includes the definition of a marijuana plant. Applies only to Florida law, and does not immunize violations of federal law.[3] | ” |
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article X, Florida Constitution
The measure would have amended Section 29(b) of Article X of the Florida Constitution. The following underlined text would have been added:[2]
ARTICLE X, SECTION 29.– Medical marijuana production, possession and use.
(b) DEFINITIONS. For purposes of this section, the following words and terms shall have the following meanings:
(6) “Medical use” means the acquisition, possession, use, growing up to nine mature flowering marijuana plants and possessing the harvest therefrom, delivery, transfer, or administration of an amount of marijuana not in conflict with Department rules, or of related supplies by a qualifying patient or caregiver for use by the caregiver’s designated qualifying patient for the treatment of a debilitating medical condition.
(11) “Marijuana plant” means a plant, including, but not limited to, a seedling or cutting. To determine if a piece or part of a marijuana plant severed from the marijuana plant is itself a marijuana plant, the severed piece or part must have some readily observable evidence of root formation, such as root hairs. Callous tissue is not readily observable evidence of root formation.[3]
Sponsors
Peaceful Minds for Medical Marijuana sponsored the initiative.[2]
Background
Medical marijuana in the United States
As of May 2021, 36 states and Washington, D.C., had passed laws legalizing or decriminalizing medical marijuana. Additionally, 10 states had legalized the use of cannabis oil, or cannabidiol (CBD)—one of the non-psychoactive ingredients found in marijuana—for medical purposes.[4] In one state—Idaho—medical marijuana was illegal, but the use of a specific brand of FDA-approved CDB, Epidiolex, was legal.[5] Based on 2019 population estimates, 67.5 percent of Americans lived in a jurisdiction with access to medical marijuana.
Unique instances
Idaho: In 2015, the Idaho State Legislature passed a bill legalizing certain types of CBD oil that was later vetoed by Governor Butch Otter (R). In response, Otter issued an executive order allowing children with intractable epilepsy to use Epidiolex in certain circumstances. [6]
South Dakota: In 2019, the South Dakota State Legislature passed a bill amending one section of law by adding Epidiolex to its list of controlled substances. The bill also exempted CBD from the state's definition of marijuana in that section.[7] Elsewhere in state law, CBD was not exempted from the definition of marijuana. This discrepancy led to confusion that left the legal status of CBD in the state unclear for a year.[8]
After the 2019 changes, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg (R) issued a statement, wherein he argued all forms of CBD oil, apart from Epidiolex, were illegal under state law.[9] Several state's attorneys expressed disagreement with the Attorney General's statements. Aaron McGown and Tom Wollman, state's attorneys for Minnehaha and Lincoln counties, respectively, issued a joint statement where they said the discrepancy left legality open to differing interpretations. Mark Vargo, the Pennington County state's attorney, said his office would not prosecute CBD cases based on his interpretation of the state law.[8]
On March 27, 2020, Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed House Bill 1008 into law, which legalized industrial hemp and CBD oil in the state.[10]
Path to the ballot
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.[11] 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."[12]
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 June 11, 2018.[2]
- Sponsors did not submit the required number of signatures to qualify for the ballot by the deadline on February 1, 2022.[13]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Florida Department of Elections, "Initiative 18-05 text," accessed September 24, 2018
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedinitiative - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ This count excludes states that permitted both the use of cannabis oil and medical marijuana.
- ↑ CBD School, "CBD Laws by State 2020 - Just the Facts (is CBD legal in 2020?)," accessed February 28, 2020
- ↑ Idaho Office of Drug Policy, "Cannabidiol (CBD)," accessed February 28, 2020
- ↑ South Dakota Legislature official website, "2019 Senate Bill 22 - Enrolled," accessed February 28, 2020
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Argus Leader, "Is CBD oil illegal? Confusion reigns over South Dakota's law," April 19, 2019
- ↑ South Dakota Attorney General official website, "Attorney General Ravnsborg clarifies questions regarding industrial hemp and CBD (Cannabidiol) oil," March 25, 2019
- ↑ Argus Leader, "Industrial hemp becomes legal in South Dakota after Noem signs bill," March 27, 2020
- ↑ Before the passage of Florida Senate Bill 1794 of 2020, signatures remained valid for a period of two years
- ↑ Florida State Senate, "Florida Senate Bill 1794," accessed April 13, 2020
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedMeasure
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