TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court ruled on Monday that both the recreational marijuana initiative and the abortion rights initiative are consistent with state law. This means Florida voters will see both amendments on the November 2024 ballot.
You can read the State Supreme Court decision on the abortion amendment here, and the decision on adding the measure to legalize marijuana by clicking here.
Now, it's up to voters whether to approve or vote down the proposed constitutional amendments. To pass the amendment, 60% of those voting on the amendment need to vote “yes.”
Here is what you need to know about the two initiatives and what they could mean:
Recreational marijuana initiative
This would allow the sale and possession of recreational marijuana for people 21 and older.
The amendment is sponsored by Smart and Safe Florida, a nonprofit organization supporting the use of marijuana. Attorney General Ashley Moody challenged the amendment and said it doesn’t meet the legal requirements. She said it violates the state constitution’s single-subject limit and the summary isn’t clear.
The initiative needed 891,523 signatures from Florida registered voters to be reviewed. It garnered more than one million.
Smart and Safe Florida spent more than $40 million on the initiative with about $39 million coming from Trulieve, a Florida-based marijuana dispensary company, according to campaign finance records from 2022 and 2023.
Current state law allows people over the age of 21 to buy marijuana if they have a medical marijuana card. If the initiative goes on the ballot and voters approve, people will be able to possess up to three ounces of marijuana.
Advocates say medical marijuana is already a billion dollar industry in Florida and is set-up for a quick transition to recreational, if voters give it the green-light. “With recreational passing, the expectation is that 5x or 6x that within just a couple of years,” says Dustin Robinson and attorney and Partner at Mr. Cannabis Law.
“Right now, there's about 900,000 patients that are approved for marijuana. So that means the total available market is you're only able to sell to those 900,000 patients in Florida. We have 20 million population and then we have another 120 million and tourists. So the total available market for these [dispensaries] has just absolutely exploded,” Robinson added.
That means a major boost in revenue for the state, according to a recent state analysis, Amendment 3 could generate $195-$431 million in sales tax revenue per year.
“I certainly think it’ll be a boost for our company and for the industry as a whole, but I think the biggest beneficiary are ultimately the citizens of Florida,” says Adam Goers, the SVP of Corporate Affairs for the Cannabist Company, who owns several dispensaries in the Tampa Bay area.
Goers says the benefits are more than just financial, “I can't emphasize enough that this would be a big boost for public health and safety ultimately, that we get the illicit market out of this.’
But even some advocates for legalization aren’t exactly gung-ho about the proposal.
“It does make it easier to obtain cannabis, for adults and responsible Use, of course. But, you know, it doesn't do much for anything else,” says Carlos Remida, the owner of Chillum, which sells hemp products at stores in Ybor City and St. Petersburg.
Remida is also the deputy director of Suncoast NORML, an organization that advocates for the decriminalization, legalization and normalization of cannabis. He says the current amendment only benefits large corporations and doesn’t allow for the public to grow their own marijuana plants.
“There's a lot that we would actually have to advocate for, if this does pass,” Remida added.
Other opponents fear up opening up legal access to marijuana could cause other issues. Dr. Kevin Sabet, the president of “Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action,” says in part ,” Legal weed in Florida will cost taxpayers more money, worsen an already significant mental health crisis, impact public safety and snare more young people and minority groups in a spiral of addiction.”
Abortion Rights Initiative
The amendment, sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom, would block the state from prohibiting abortion up to the point of viability, which is the point where the fetus is viable outside the womb. This is usually around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Attorney General Ashley Moody challenged the initiative, arguing there were different interpretations of what "viability" means and called it confusing to voters. Monday, the State Supreme Court outlined its process in its decision, ruling the measure did not meet the threshold to be taken off the ballot on these grounds.
The initiative needed 891,523 signatures from Florida registered voters to be reviewed and has over 900,000. Florida Protecting Freedom spent over $15 million last year, according to campaign finance records from 2023.
On Monday, the State Supreme Court also delivered its ruling regarding Florida’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which was approved in 2022. The court decided the ban did not violate the state constitution and a privacy clause. With this ruling, the Supreme Court clears the way for a six-week ban to take effect.
