Florida activists are running out of time to collect signatures for a state constitutional amendment to legalize the consumption and possession of recreational cannabis. This comes a few months after Florida’s Supreme Court tossed two previous initiatives in 2021 alone to put recreational cannabis legalization on the ballot. Justices said the language of the initiatives was misleading to voters. Now, it’s time for an amendment, say activists. 

Regulate Florida is the organization leading the campaign charge. They continue to stress the need for enough signatures to qualify for the 2022 ballot. “Time is short,” the organization’s latest Facebook post stated. “So we need you to send in your completed and signed petition today!! We can do this if we work together.”

The organization needs to collect 222,898 valid signatures first. This will prompt a judicial and fiscal impact review. Next, for the amendment to apply for the 2022 ballot, a total of 891,589 valid signatures must be submitted and confirmed. Furthermore, a 60 percent supermajority of voters needs to vote for the amendment for it to become law. Recent polls show voters sit around 59 percent in approval of recreational cannabis. Should the amendment make it to the ballot, it will be a tight race. 

Amendment

The amendment itself for recreational cannabis would be to legalize the possession and consumption. However, it would not create a recreational cannabis retail market. That would have to be under another law. By just legalizing the consumption and possession of cannabis, Regulate Florida hopes to avoid issues the Supreme Court had with previous measures. A legal market would come from either another ballot measure sponsored by the people, or by lawmakers themselves. 

Other Florida activists, like Make it Legal Florida, also had their proposal rejected by the court this year. It’s unclear if they will resubmit or wait until a later ballot for their measure. 

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