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A Florida campaign says it\u2019s collected more than one million signatures to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the state\u2019s 2026 ballot\u2014and so it\u2019s voluntarily declining to appeal a legal case in which a judge recently allowed state officials to invalidate about 200,000 petitions<\/a> over a largely procedural issue.<\/p>\n In a notice sent to Florida\u2019s Second Judicial Circuit on Tuesday, Smart & Safe Florida advised that it would not be pursuing an appeal of the judgement, which held that formatting changes made to the cannabis petition rendered approximately 200,000 signatures illegitimate.<\/p>\n While that decision means a significant chunk of the total signatures they\u2019d amassed won\u2019t count, the campaign said in a statement shared with Marijuana Moment on Tuesday that they still have plenty of buffer to qualify for ballot placement, so they won\u2019t be challenging the court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Smart & Safe campaign will not appeal the recent court ruling to invalidate over 200,000 verified petitions as we are confident in the ability to submit enough petitions to make ballot position so long as the state does its job in good faith to process the submitted petitions and accurately report the verification totals,\u201d it said. \u201cTo date, excluding the mail-in ballots, the campaign has submitted over 1,010,000 signed petitions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGiven that the state has not updated its online reporting to reflect submitted petitions and due to the excessive backlog caused by the state\u2019s three month freeze on petition verification, we urge the Secretary of State to timely process the petitions and update its reporting of the verified petitions as required by law,\u201d the campaign said. \u201cThe public deserves to have their petitions counted.\u201d<\/p>\n Smart & Safe filed a separate lawsuit with the state Supreme Court over that issue last month, alleging that officials are violating election laws by stalling a required review process for the measure<\/a>\u00a0without justification. The state has\u00a0since agreed to move forward with the processing<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the campaign is encouraging voters who signed the petition to contact their local election supervisors or the secretary of state\u2019s office to determine whether their signatures were invalidated.<\/p>\n This is Smart & Safe Florida\u2019s second run at the ballot. They successfully secured ballot placement for a 2024 version of the initiative\u2014and a majority did vote to pass it, but not enough to meet the state\u2019s steep 60 percent threshold to approve a constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n A\u00a0federal judge in August separately delivered a win to Smart & Safe Florida<\/a>\u2014granting \u201ccomplete relief\u201d from provisions of a law the governor signed to impose other serious restrictions on signature gathering.<\/p>\n While the law the governor signed in May wasn\u2019t directly targeted at the cannabis initiative, there\u2019s been concern among supporters that it could jeopardize an already complex and costly process to collect enough signatures to make the ballot. That\u2019s because it would block non-residents and non-citizens from collecting signatures for ballot measures.<\/p>\n In March, meanwhile, two Democratic members of Congress representing Florida asked the federal government to investigate\u00a0what they described as \u201cpotentially unlawful diversion\u201d of millions in state Medicaid funds<\/a> via a group with ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). The money was used to fight against a citizen ballot initiative, vehemently opposed by the governor, that would have legalized marijuana for adults.<\/p>\n The lawmakers\u2019 letter followed allegations that a $10 million donation from a state legal settlement was improperly made to the Hope Florida Foundation, which later sent the money to two political nonprofits, which in turn sent $8.5 million to a campaign opposing Amendment 3.<\/p>\n The governor said in February that\u00a0the newest marijuana legalization measure is in \u201cbig time trouble\u201d with the state Supreme Court<\/a>, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of different perspectives on on marijuana,\u201d DeSantis said. \u201cIt should not be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you have elections for the legislature. Go back candidates that you believe will be able to deliver what your vision is on that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut when you put these things in the Constitution\u2014and I think, I mean, the way they wrote, there\u2019s all kinds of things going on in here. I think it\u2019s going to have big time trouble getting through the Florida Supreme Court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The latest\u00a0initiative<\/a>\u00a0was filed with the secretary of state\u2019s office just months after the initial version failed during the November 2024 election\u2014despite an endorsement from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n Smart & Safe Florida is hoping the revised version will succeed in 2026. The campaign\u2014which in the last election cycle received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry stakeholders, principally the multi-state operator Trulieve\u2014incorporated certain changes into the new version that seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.<\/p>\n For example, it now specifically states that the \u201csmoking and vaping of marijuana in any public place is prohibited.\u201dAnother section asserts that the legislature would need to approve rules dealing with the \u201cregulation of the time, place, and manner of the public consumption of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the governor accurately predicted that\u00a0the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge<\/a>\u00a0from the state attorney general. It\u2019s not entirely clear why he feels this version would face a different outcome.<\/p>\n While there\u2019s uncertainty around how the state\u2019s highest court will navigate the measure, a poll released in February\u00a0showed overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform<\/a>\u2014with 67 percent of Florida voters backing legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.<\/p>\n \u2014 In the background, a recent poll from a Trump-affiliated research firm found that\u00a0nearly\u00a09 in 10 Florida voters say they should have the right to decide to legalize marijuana<\/a>\u00a0in the state.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a pro-legalization GOP state lawmaker recently filed a bill to amend state law to\u00a0codify that the public use of marijuana is prohibited<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rep. Alex Andrade (R), the sponsor, said earlier this year that\u00a0embracing cannabis reform is a way for the Republican party to secure more votes<\/a>\u00a0from young people.<\/p>\n Separately, Florida medical marijuana officials are\u00a0actively revoking the registrations of patients and caregivers with drug-related criminal records<\/a>. The policy is part of broad budget legislation signed into law earlier this year by DeSantis. The provisions in question direct the state Department of Health (DOH) to\u00a0cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and caregivers<\/a>\u00a0if they\u2019re convicted of\u2014or plead guilty or no contest to\u2014criminal drug charges.<\/p>\n Read Smart & Safe Florida\u2019s latest filing<\/a> in the signature invalidation case below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis \/\/ Side Pocket Images.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Florida Marijuana Campaign Is \u2018Confident\u2019 Legalization Measure Will Make Ballot, With 1 Million Signatures Despite State Roadblocks<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A Florida campaign says it\u2019s collected more than one million signatures to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the state\u2019s 2026 ballot\u2014and so it\u2019s voluntarily declining to appeal a legal case in which a judge recently allowed state officials to invalidate about 200,000 petitions over a largely procedural issue. InContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":84566,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84565"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84567,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84565\/revisions\/84567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Florida Marijuana Campaign Is \u2018Confident\u2019 Legalization Measure Will Make Ballot, With 1 Million Signatures Despite State Roadblocks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"