Is Florida Finally Going to Legalize Recreational Weed?

For years, Florida cannabis groups and reform-minded legislators have tried — and failed — to legalize cannabis for recreational adult use in the state.

In 2019, one valiant ballot initiative effort by Regulate Florida died due to a lack of signatures. In 2021, the Florida Supreme Court rejected two separate ballot proposals for vague or confusing language.

The latest attempt to legalize recreational cannabis — known as the Smart & Safe Florida initiative — is now making its way towards the Florida Supreme Court after garnering enough signatures for judicial review.

This puts the state just a smidge closer to legalizing recreational weed. If given the green light by the high court justices, the measure would still need hundreds of thousands more signatures before officially making it onto ballot. The measure has been bankrolled by cannabis giant Trulieve, which has poured more than $20 million into it since last August.

If you’re feeling a sense of déjà vu, or perhaps a bit stoned, that’s because we’ve been here before.

Florida law requires proposed ballot initiatives to have about 223,000 voter signatures to qualify for review by the Florida Supreme Court and approximately 891,000 to get on the ballot. In judicial reviews of initiatives, the court evaluates whether a measure satisfies clarity requirements and the single subject rule, which ensures that the initiative is centered on one issue.

[Read more at Miami New Times]