Recreational pot ballot proposal fizzles, but new pot bills filed in Tallahassee

Voters will not vote to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida this year.

After a brief but expensive campaign, the Make it Legal Florida political committee ended its effort Monday to get recreational marijuana on the 2020 ballot. The campaign, which raised over $8.7 million in primarily marijuana industry money since it launched in August, has spent $7.7 million on the effort.

In December alone, the committee raised more than $4.8 million, according to a newly filed campaign finance report. The bulk of the contributions came from medical marijuana companies MedMen and Surterra, which does business as Parallel.

The signed petitions, which are valid for two years, will be used for a 2022 ballot initiative campaign.