Familiar foes of recreational marijuana are mounting opposition to this year’s push for legalized weed for Floridians 21 years of age or older.
In filings to the Florida Supreme Court on Friday, Attorney General James Uthmeier, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Associated Industries of Florida are condemning the Adult Personal Use of Marijuana amendment, in what is a likely preview of oral arguments before the High Court next month.
Uthmeier argues the ballot summary is misleading, that the legalization push conflicts with federal law given that cannabis is not legal for non-medical use, and that the initiative violates the single-subject rule and logrolls additional subjects, including calling for an end to the vertical integration framework on which the state’s medical marijuana program relies.
“[T]his initiative is the latest in a lengthy string of attempts by the marijuana industry to embed a full regulatory regime governing the recreational use of marijuana in Florida’s constitution. That regime would, among other things, simultaneously decriminalize recreational marijuana use; guarantee certain rights to marijuana producers and retailers; and require state regulators to assist in ensuring marijuana’s ‘availability’ throughout the nation’s third largest state,” Uthmeier argues.
The Chamber, along with the Florida Legal Foundation and Judge Frank Shepherd, makes similar arguments, including asserting that the citizens’ initiative is not an “appropriate ‘revision’ or ‘amendment’” to the constitution, and charging proponents with being “out-of-state interests that think of Florida as just another market” and looking to “abuse” the citizens’ initiative process to those ends.
Associated Industries of Florida argues upon the same lines.
“This case presents the rare circumstance in which federal invalidity is not speculative or dependent on future legislative choices. The conflict with the Controlled Substances Act is immediate, comprehensive, and inescapable … the ‘Adult Personal Use of Marijuana’ initiative petition is facially invalid under the United States Constitution, violates the Florida Constitution’s single-subject requirement, and violates the Florida Election Code’s ballot-clarity obligations. The Marijuana Initiative therefore cannot lawfully be submitted to the electorate.”
As of Saturday morning, Smart and Safe Florida has secured more than 675,000 signatures in favor of the measure going on the ballot this year. It fell short of the 60% required in 2024, amid an intense push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to defeat it.
