Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has submitted ballot language to the Florida Supreme Court for a proposed 2024 constitutional amendment to legalize recreational cannabis in Florida. She also informed the court that she opposes the measure.
Moody told the high court that she believes the proposed amendment “fails” to meet the requirements of Florida law, but she didn’t explain the reason for her opposition. She did indicate she would present additional arguments later in the process.
The measure on recreational cannabis is being sponsored by the group Smart & Safe Florida, which has spent more than $38 million to attempt to get the measure on the ballot.
Nearly all of that funding has come from Trulieve, the largest cannabis company in Florida and one of the largest in the nation. The group needs to get 891,253 valid signatures from around the state to qualify to get on the ballot, and Smart & Safe Florida is well on its way to achieving that goal. The group has submitted 767,747 valid signatures as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Florida Division of Elections website.
The ballot measure, called “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana,” would allow for the possession, purchase, or use of marijuana products or marijuana accessories by an adult 21 years of age or older for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise.” The measure would allow an individual to possess up to three ounces of cannabis for personal use.
Once a group working on a citizen’s led initiative on the ballot reaches the 25% threshold of the more than 891,000 valid signatures required to get on the ballot, the attorney general is mandated to request an advisory opinion from the state’s Supreme Court to determine if the proposal complies with the single-subject requirement and whether the ballot title and summary of the amendment complies with the Florida Constitution.
Moody opposed a similar proposed constitutional amendment that would allow for recreational marijuana use in 2020, from the group Make it Legal Florida. She told the Florida Supreme Court at that time that the ballot summary was “affirmatively misleading, and the initiative should be kept off the ballot.”
In 2021, the Florida Supreme Court voted 5-2 to strike down the proposal, ruling it to be “misleading.” Two months later, the high court rejected a second proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize recreational cannabis.
–Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
Nephew Of Uncle Sam says
While a majority of citizens approve of recreational marijuana in this State the GOP will continue to against their constituents. I just shake my head when I’m at Trulieve and 3 or more customers are parked flying flags of the last “president” or vehicles decorated in stickers about the ills of the current administration. Yet there they are buying medical marijuana and continue to Vote for GOP politicians who clearly don’t have their best interests in mind.
Laurel says
Oh good grief! I am so tired of the far right and their tedious idealism.
WE WILL CONTROL YOU FOR YOUR OWN GOOD IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM!
Just make it legal to grow a couple marijuana plants in your yard, mind your own business and get over it!
Skibum says
I supported the change in the law which allowed medical use of marijuana because there has been extensive research and fact-based evidence showing that it does have medicinal benefits in some cases. But I strongly oppose the recreational use of this drug because it would only add to the already high number of DUI incidents, making our roadway less safe than they are now. As marijuana has become more mainstream in society, law enforcement has had to deal with it much more frequently every time they stop a driver who is showing signs of impairment. While the breath test is reliable for detecting a driver who is over the .08 percentage point for alcohol intoxication, marijuana cannot be detected or analyzed on a breathalizer and law enforcement has to use other methods to determine if a driver is under the influence of drugs. In today’s world, DUI investigations commonly show more and more drivers are under the combined influence of alcohol and drugs, or drugs alone. Why would we want to make it even easier for more people to “recreationally” get high on marijuana and then get behind the wheel of a 2-ton vehicle and hit the road putting other people’s lives in jeopardy? I just don’t get it and never will understand the current trend of wanting to make marijuana legal for everyone when we still have a huge problem in our society with alcohol intoxication DUIs.
Laurel says
Skibum: You are mixing MJ with other drugs, which is unreasonable including alcohol, also unreasonable. You also admit that MJ is undetectable by law enforcement, and again, is lumped in with other drugs that effect people in a whole different way, and is subjectively judged by officers.
The absolute worse thing I ever heard of happening to a driver while on MJ, was that she sat at a stop sign waiting for it to turn green! That’s it. No one hurt, but embarrassment was involved. I preferred not to drive as I was not willing to travel more than 20 mph, with both fists on the wheel. This is nothing like other drugs, it tends to make people hyper aware, and a lot less bold. There is no comparison to alcohol or other drugs.
I say grow your own. Personally, I have little interest. I wouldn’t mind some mushrooms, though, and would still not want to drive.
Skibum says
Laurel, I understand the point you are making, but it really depends on the individual and the amount of MJ in that person’s system prior to driving because it affects people differently, just like alcohol tends to do. A person with a very low amount in their system may exhibit no physical symptoms or impairment whereas a higher amount in the body will certainly increase the physical symptoms and impairment of drivers the same way alcohol does, and I know this because I have seen it and had to deal with it during my law enforcement career. MJ use can be detected, but not by the most common test equipment that law enforcement uses in every state, which are the instant roadside type as well as the intoxilizer type of breath/alcohol machines at the jails. To determine if there were drugs in a driver’s systems in combination with or instead of alcohol, a blood or urine sample must be obtained and sent to a lab for analysis, and if so, it will determine if the level was sufficient to cause impairment. Immediate blood or urine sample during are not available at the time of an arrest and booking of an intoxicated driver, so it is often unknown if the person who was driving under the influence was impaired solely due to alcohol or if MJ or other drugs were involved as well, unless the driver states that they were smoking MJ or took other drugs. But the bottom line is that there is empirical evidence showing that more and more impaired drivers are under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol, and that MJ does play a significant role in the number of impaired driving arrests as it grows in popularity, so that is why I don’t want even more intoxicated and impaired drivers on our roads and highways after smoking MJ and then getting behind the wheel. It is just making it more unsafe for all of us.
Laurel says
I still disagree. People have been smoking marijuana for many, many decades now, illegally, and there has not been any real data, reflecting use over that period of time, that it effects people any way near as serious as alcohol. To group it in with other drugs is not reasonable. Very legal drugs, such as Ambien (and there are others) actually cause people to drive while asleep. We had a friend who woke up in line at Bass Pro Shop in Davie. Where is the protest? I’ve always found it astounding that a drug that allows people to drive while sound asleep is legal. Sadly, that friend died of an overdose. If he had smoked marijuana to help him sleep instead of the prescribed Ambien, maybe he would still be alive today.
I can tell you there was something to be said about a joint, chips and the Carol Burnett Show.
Skibum says
A smile came to my face envisioning you with a bowl of chips in your lap, a joint in your mouth, laughing away at the great Carol Burnett! If staying off the road while imbibing at home was the way people used MJ, I’d just shrub and say “to each his own”. I’ve had many, many opportunities to try MJ, but I never even smoked in my life so I had no problem turning down invitations, but I suspect I probably had contact highs over the years while just trying to breathe air through all the MJ smoke at some concerts I have attended, LOL!