{"id":166910,"date":"2026-02-24T13:37:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166910\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:37:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:37:06","slug":"usf-students-say-amendment-to-legalize-marijuana-is-important-for-regulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/166910\/","title":{"rendered":"USF students say amendment to legalize marijuana is important for regulation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>An amendment to legalize the use of recreational marijuana in Florida received 783,592 out of the 880,062 signatures needed to make the midterm ballots. ORACLE GRAPHIC\/THOMAS MARRS<\/p>\n

An amendment to legalize the use of recreational marijuana in Florida failed to garner enough support to make the ballot for the 2026 Florida midterm election.<\/p>\n

Smart & Safe Florida, a non-profit organization that sponsors the amendment titled \u201cPersonal Marijuana Use for Florida Adults,\u201d spearheaded a petition to have it on the ballot, according to its website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ballot initiative was approved<\/a> in January 2025, and a public petition was created that allowed people to sign through an online document.<\/p>\n

But the petition received 783,592 signatures \u2014 short of the 880,062 signatures required by the state to be put on the 2026 Florida midterm ballot, according to the Florida Department of State<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the 2024 election, Amendment 3 \u2014 which would have made the recreational use of marijuana legal in Florida \u2014 made it to the ballot but failed to reach a 60% threshold to pass.<\/p>\n

Some USF students said the petition\u2019s approval would have been a step in the right direction for the decriminalization and regulation of marijuana.<\/p>\n

Related: USF students react to marijuana amendment not passing in Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

There are five scheduling levels for drugs, which are categorized based on their acceptable medical use and abuse or dependency potential, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Schedule I drugs, such as marijuana, have no accepted medical use under official federal law<\/a>, with the highest potential for abuse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug under federal law, it has some qualifying medical uses in Florida \u2014 including for cancer, epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Florida Statute 381.986<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In December 2025, President Donald Trump released an executive order<\/a> that would allow the federal Attorney General to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug.<\/p>\n

Schedule III drugs, such as ketamine, have a moderate potential for dependence, according to the DEA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Juniper Lewis, a first-year microbiology master\u2019s student, said she believes marijuana should be decriminalized because the criminalization of drugs can often worsen addiction instead of alleviating it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times it only makes it more difficult to get treatment,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cMarijuana in itself is not very harmful, as long as it\u2019s given the same cautions as alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marijuana enters the bloodstream and is transferred to the brain, causing chemical changes that alter perception, with a report showing one in 10 people develop a cannabis disorder from marijuana, according to American Addiction Centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lewis said there would likely be a \u201csudden surge\u201d in marijuana use after being decriminalized.<\/p>\n

Still, she said people should be allowed to be responsible for their own decisions \u2014 and the consequences that come with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sort of like a helicopter parenting technique where that\u2019ll actually make children more likely to do incredibly stupid things because their parents are too controlling,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n

Related: USF adds Narcan to dorm buildings: \u2018Difference between life and death\u2019<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrew Wilson, a freshman chemistry student, said he believes the penalties for marijuana possession are too harsh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the punishments for marijuana are probably a little more severe than they should be right now,\u201d Wilson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Florida, illegal possession of marijuana can warrant fines and jail time depending on the amount, according to legal professionals with Find Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Amendment 3 on the 2024 ballot would have allowed Florida adults 21 and older to legally possess up to three ounces of marijuana for recreational use, according to Ballotpedia<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wilson added that the legalization of marijuana would have a positive impact on people who use marijuana recreationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who want it are still going to get it no matter what,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cSo I mean, if you legalize it, you can better control what\u2019s out there, and provide people with better and safer usage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Four charged with fentanyl distribution after USF student\u2019s deadly overdose<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bradly Blake, a freshman business major, said he believes legalizing marijuana would improve its handling and distribution \u2014 helping users avoid drug-lacing-related issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrugs coming from the wrong places are not going to be properly handled,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s better to regulate it and have it come through a more safe area rather than a back doorway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drugs laced with other substances create a severe public health problem and change the psychoactive effects on a person, often with fatal results, according to the American Addiction Centers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, Blake said he is \u201c50-50\u201d on the amendment because, while many people advocated for it, there would be downsides to the change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if it were legalized, a lot more college students would partake in it, because I think a lot of the reason they don\u2019t is because it\u2019s illegal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, Blake said recreational marijuana should be legal for adults in Florida because it would benefit public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think marijuana\u2019s going to go away any time soon, so making it legal would just be a lot better for a lot of people, and for regulation,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An amendment to legalize the use of recreational marijuana in Florida received 783,592 out of the 880,062 signatures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-166910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}