{"id":61621,"date":"2025-11-26T15:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/61621\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T15:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:43:08","slug":"marijuana-amendment-group-confident-itll-make-2026-florida-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/61621\/","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana amendment group confident it’ll make 2026 Florida ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Credit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

The latest effort to legalize marijuana in Florida encountered a legal setback but those behind a new amendment insist they still can qualify for the 2026 ballot.<\/p>\n

Florida election officials have told local election supervisors to toss out 200,000 petition signatures that they say are invalid. Smart & Safe Florida, the group pushing the initiative, and which has relied on millions from the state\u2019s largest medical marijuana provider, Trulieve, challenged the decision in court. But in a\u00a0ruling from the bench last week<\/a>\u00a0by Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper sided with the state.<\/p>\n

Smart & Safe announced Tuesday that it would not appeal Cooper\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident in the ability to submit enough petitions to make ballot position so long as the state does its job in good faith to process the submitted petitions and accurately report the verification totals,\u201d the organization said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

To place an initiative on the ballot, the group must gather more than 880,000 signatures from Florida voters. Smart & Safe says it still has more than 1 million signatures even without the ones disqualified by the state.<\/p>\n

The deadline to have the petition signatures validated is Feb. 1.<\/p>\n

In its statement, the organization urged Secretary of State Cord Byrd to \u201ctimely process the petitions and update its reporting of the verified petitions as required by law. The public deserves to have their petitions counted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those backing the legalization effort tried and failed to get a measure passed in the 2024 election. Gov. Ron DeSantis sharply criticized the amendment and his then chief-of-staff James Uthmeier (now Florida attorney general) led the political committee that urged voters to turn it down. The\u00a0amendment fell short<\/a>\u00a0of the 60% threshold needed to pass.<\/p>\n

In early 2025, Smart & Safe renewed its push and mailed a copy of a reworked initiative to millions of voters. But instead of providing a complete text of the amendment, it listed a website address on the back of the petition form that had been approved by state officials. That website address took voters to a page on Smart & Safe website that included the entire amendment.<\/p>\n

Byrd, however, sent Smart & Safe a \u201ccease and desist\u201d letter in which he questioned the legality of the forms and said they had been altered without permission. State officials also demanded the organization hand over names and addresses of those who received the forms. In early October, the Division of Elections instructed supervisors to invalidate roughly 200,000 signed forms.<\/p>\n

Smart & Safe\u00a0challenged the state\u2019s directive<\/a>\u00a0to local election supervisors but after a one-day hearing last week Cooper ruled with the state.<\/p>\n

Republican Party of Florida chair Evan Power applauded Cooper\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cGov. DeSantis did the right thing by enforcing the law and protecting the integrity of our ballot,\u201d Power said. \u201cFloridians will not be misled. If you want to change our constitution, you follow the rules \u2014 period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow us:\u00a0Apple News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>\u00a0| Or sign up for our\u00a0RSS Feed<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Orlando\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSwan boats turned 100 with a \u201cSwantennial,\u201d while the lake\u2019s living residents passed their health checks with flying colors\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"20\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tHoliday festivals, light shows, parades, illuminated paths and more over-the-top twinkle\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"DeSantis\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tHe wants to impose a dog breeder license, target unethical breeding, and tighten penalties for abusing animals in front of children\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n

\t