Florida — Last week, state officials notified Smart and Safe Florida, a group who advocates for adult-use marijuana, surpassed the state-required threshold of 220,000 verified signatures.
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The total amount of signatures now triggers a legally mandated financial, and judicial review. The group is now required to gather over 880,000 total signatures by February 1st. Also, while navigating separate legal challenges.
This is the second lawsuit Smart & Safe had filed against the DeSantis administration over its proposal, and it came months after the pro-marijuana group nearly legalized recreational use of the drug during the 2024 election cycle.
Although, the initiative garnered 56% support from Floridians, it fell short of the 60% threshold needed to become part of the state Constitution.
In May, DeSantis signed a law creating new hurdles for citizen-driven ballot initiatives, changes critics say would make it prohibitively expensive and effectively impossible for grassroots campaigners to get issues on the ballot.
For years, Florida voters have turned to the citizens’ ballot initiative process to bypass the Republican-dominated Legislature, and advance progressive policies such as raising the minimum wage, which is already set to increase by a dollar at the end of this year.
However, Attorney General James Uthmeier has requested the Florida Supreme Court to dismiss the case, filed by the marijuana group, saying that the case is “moot” since it was resolved.
“The next step in Florida’s amendment process is for Uthmeier to transmit the language to be reviewed to the Florida Supreme Court, who must find that the amendment deals with one subject and that its ballot title and summary are clear and unambiguous."
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