{"id":85342,"date":"2026-02-04T04:38:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:38:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/florida-supreme-court-cancels-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure-hearing-at-request-of-attorney-general\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T19:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T03:47:16","slug":"florida-supreme-court-cancels-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure-hearing-at-request-of-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2026\/02\/04\/florida-supreme-court-cancels-marijuana-legalization-ballot-measure-hearing-at-request-of-attorney-general\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Supreme Court Cancels Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure Hearing At Request Of Attorney General"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Florida Supreme Court has cancelled oral arguments and closed a case concerning a marijuana legalization ballot initiative that was under review at the request of the state attorney general.<\/p>\n

Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) notified the court on Monday that he was withdrawing his request for a legal review into the cannabis measure because election officials determined the campaign behind it had fallen short of the signature requirements for ballot placement. But while the campaign urged the court to reject the notice of dismissal, contesting the signature count, justices on Wednesday accepted the attorney general\u2019s motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court accepts the Attorney General\u2019s Notice of Voluntary Dismissal. Oral argument is canceled and this case is hereby dismissed,\u201d justices said.<\/p>\n

Smart & Safe Florida has disputed the secretary of state\u2019s signature count, claiming the campaign submitted over 1.4 million petitions\u2014hundreds of thousands more than the 880,062 valid signatures required to go before voters.<\/p>\n

In a filing with the Supreme Court, Uthmeier said his office was withdrawing its earlier request for a legal review in the constitutionality of the proposed cannabis initiative\u00a0<\/a> because the state claims the campaign submitted an insufficient number of signed petitions. The last count, according to the secretary of state\u2019s office, was 783,592 validated signatures.<\/p>\n

The attorney general \u201crespectfully submits that the Court should dismiss this case and cancel the oral argument scheduled for February 5, 2026,\u201d the filing<\/a> said.<\/p>\n

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New material in Re: Adult Personal Use of Marijuana (dismissal). See the docket here: https:\/\/t.co\/lIHnRCafYz<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/ciBLRMIZiQ<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FloridaSupremeCourt (@flcourts) February 4, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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In its reply brief, Smart & Safe Florida said the secretary of state\u2019s office made a determination that the campaign didn\u2019t satisfy requirements for ballot placement based on a \u201cconclusion that the Sponsor failed to meet the requisite signature threshold in light of the invalidations that the Sponsor is contesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould the Sponsor prevail in those actions, up to 98,000 petitions would be added to the total, easily surpassing the 880,062 necessary for ballot placement,\u201d it said. \u201cIn addition, the day before the Secretary\u2019s announcement, the Sponsor submitted a public records request to all 67 County Supervisors of Elections to ascertain the number of verified valid signed petitions, as well as the number of signed petitions that should have been verified as valid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDepending on the results of that request, the Sponsor may file an action in the coming weeks directly challenging the Secretary of State\u2019s determination that the Sponsor did not obtain the requisite number of verified petition signatures,\u201d the brief states.\u201dThe Court should deny the Attorney General\u2019s request for dismissal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf section 16.061(4) were construed to require this Court to dismiss an advisory-opinion case where the Secretary of State\u2019s determination that an initiative no longer qualifies for ballot placement is currently subject to legal challenge, as it is here, the statute would be unconstitutional. Nothing in the Constitution permits the Legislature to authorize the Attorney General to divest this Court of jurisdiction through a withdrawal of a request. As a practical matter, moreover, such a novel procedure would confer on a Secretary of State effectively unreviewable authority to foreclose an initiative\u2019s placement on the ballot, even on legally invalid grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court should not be denied jurisdiction to adjudicate the signature issues under legal scrutiny simply because the state determined that there were insufficient signatures, the campaign said. And if the court \u201cconcludes that the statute is not amenable to that construction, however, it should hold that the statute is unconstitutional as applied here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe broader context here illustrates the constitutional infirmity in applying the statute to divest the Court of jurisdiction in these circumstances,\u201d it said. \u201cOver 1.4 million Floridians have exercised their constitutionally granted right to sign the Sponsor\u2019s initiative petition to provide for safe, regulated, adult-only use of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately dismissing advisory-opinion review here, when there are pending outcome-determinative disputes about the Secretary\u2019s disqualification of tens of thousands of petitions, may leave this Court with little or no time to issue an advisory opinion in compliance with that constitutional deadline should the Sponsor prevail in the pending cases,\u201d it continued. \u201cThat would frustrate the people\u2019s exercise of their right to amend the Constitution by initiative under Article XI of the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAffording the Secretary of State effectively unreviewable discretion to withhold initiatives from the ballot is neither contemplated by the Constitution nor necessary for ballot integrity. In fact, this Court has repeatedly confirmed that it retains jurisdiction even if the Secretary of State asserts that the February threshold is not satisfied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Department of State said on Sunday that 21 other initiative campaigns also failed to turn in sufficient signatures for ballot access.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the signature turn-in, Florida\u2019s attorney general and several business and anti-marijuana groups\u00a0urged the state Supreme Court to block the cannabis initiative<\/a>, calling it \u201cfatally flawed\u201d and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, Florida Legal Foundation and Judge Frank Shepherd filed a separate joint brief stating that the parties remain \u201cespecially vigilant about the abuse of the citizen initiative process by out-of-state interests that think of Florida as just another market and the citizen initiative process as just another means of exploiting that market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Florida Chamber of Commerce has consistently opposed attempts to move forward with adult-use legalization, even as\u00a0its own polling has shown majority support for the reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The briefs were filed days after Smart and Safe Florida filed a lawsuit against state officials, alleging that they improperly directed\u00a0the invalidation of about 71,000 signatures as the turn-in deadline approached<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The campaign fought several legal battles this cycle to ensure that its initiative is able to qualify for ballot placement.<\/p>\n

One of the more recent lawsuits, filed in the Leon County circuit court, claimed Secretary of State Cord Byrd (R) directed county election officials to invalidate about 42,000 signatures from so-called \u201cinactive\u201d voters and roughly 29,000 signatures collected by out-of-state petitioners.<\/p>\n

That came after another court upheld a previous decision to strike about 200,000 signatures that the state said were invalid because the petitions didn\u2019t include the full text of the proposed initiative. The campaign contested the legal interpretation, but it declined to appeal the decision based on their confidence they\u2019d collected enough signatures to make up the difference.<\/p>\n

Last month, the state attorney general\u2019s office opened dozens of criminal investigations and submitted subpoenas requesting records from Smart & Safe Florida and its contractors and subcontractors over alleged fraud related to the petitioning effort.<\/p>\n

Activists said in November that they\u2019d collected more than one million signatures to put the cannabis measure on the ballot, but it\u2019s also\u00a0challenged officials at the state Supreme Court level over delays the certification process<\/a>, arguing that the review of the ballot content and summary should have moving forward months ago when it reached an initial signature threshold. The state then\u00a0agreed to move forward with the processing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) campaigned heavily against an earlier version of the legalization proposal, which received a majority of voters in 2024 but not enough to meet the 60 percent threshold required to pass a constitutional amendment. Former Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) unsuccessfully contested the prior initiative in the courts.<\/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>\u00a0via a group with ties to DeSantis. 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 last February that\u00a0the newest marijuana legalization measure is in \u201cbig time trouble\u201d with the state Supreme Court<\/a>, predicting it would be blocked from going before voters this 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 expressed optimism that the revised version would 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

In 2023, 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 last 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
\nMarijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills<\/a> in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters<\/a> pledging at least $25\/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don\u2019t miss any developments.<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nLearn more about our marijuana bill tracker<\/a> and become a supporter on Patreon<\/a> to get access.
\n\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

n 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, Florida lawmakers recently approved a bill to\u00a0significantly reduce the fee for military veterans to obtain medical marijuana registry identification cards<\/a>, slashing the cost to one-fifth of the current amount.<\/p>\n

The subcommittee vote on the fee reduction bill came about a week after the Senate Regulated Industries Committee advanced\u00a0separate legislation to ban smoking or vaping marijuana in public places<\/a>. Rep. Alex Andrade (R) is sponsoring a similar\u00a0bill to ban public cannabis smoking<\/a>\u00a0in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an overview of other pending Florida marijuana bills:<\/strong><\/p>\n