Florida marijuana legalization effort stinks, state AG tells excessive courtroom

A marijuana multistate operator-backed push to legalize adult-use hashish in Florida is making an attempt to mislead voters round – amongst different issues – hashish’ odor, the state legal professional basic claimed.

Legal professional Normal James Uthmeier’s accusation, made in a state Supreme Courtroom submitting and supported by key enterprise teams, together with the state Chamber of Commerce, is the most recent in a protracted string of efforts to thwart legalizing adult-use hashish within the nation’s greatest medical-only market.

And it comes amid an ongoing problem to signatures already collected by legalization marketing campaign Sensible & Protected Florida, which is primarily bankrolled by Tallahassee-based MSO Trulieve Hashish Corp.

Florida adult-use marijuana legalization marketing campaign misleads round hashish odor, AG claims

With greater than $1.8 billion in medical hashish gross sales, Florida is poised to change into one of many greatest adult-use markets within the nation after legalization.

Regardless of help from President Donald Trump, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis appears decided to cease it.

Based on The Tampa Bay Instances, Uthmeier – a former chief of employees to DeSantis, who opposed the 2024 legalization effort – referred to as the Sensible & Protected marketing campaign “fatally flawed” and unconstitutional in addition to deceptive.

Along with claims that the modification violates state regulation limiting constitutional amendments’ scope, Uthmeier paid specific consideration to hashish’ odor – and claimed that whereas the Sensible & Protected modification prohibits hashish use “in public,” there’s no assure that Floridians wouldn’t odor marijuana.

“The poll abstract would lead voters to consider that voting sure would guarantee there isn’t any marijuana — or its odor — ‘in public,’ whereas the precise modification delivers no such factor,” the legal professional basic stated in filings, in line with the Instances.

“The ‘in public’ abstract language would likewise deceive Florida mother and father into pondering this initiative will prohibit marijuana smoking close to their youngsters in motels, eating places, sports activities venues, and different areas open to most people. The initiative gives no such safety.”

Sensible & Protected’s response is due in courtroom on Jan. 12.

Will Florida legalize adult-use marijuana in 2026?

In a press release to the Instances, the marketing campaign identified {that a} comparable effort from DeSantis’ administration to defeat the 2024 marketing campaign on the state Supreme Courtroom failed.

“5.9 million voters permitted of the measure in 2024, and over 1,000,000 Florida voters have signed petitions to place the present language on the poll, we hope their voices gained’t be ignored,” the assertion learn.

To move a constitutional modification in Florida, a 60% approval is required. Trulieve-backed Modification 2 failed in November 2024 regardless of greater than $150 million in marketing campaign spending and an endorsement from Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee.

Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers is credited with convincing Trump to situation the historic Dec. 18 govt order downgrading hashish to a Schedule 3 drug.

Nonetheless, there are extra issues this time round on the state degree in Florida.

In a separate courtroom case, Sensible & Protected is preventing state elections officers over their determination to invalidate tens of hundreds of signatures.

Sensible & Protected should submit a minimum of 880,062 legitimate signatures by Feb. 1.

The marketing campaign has submitted simply over 675,000 legitimate signatures to this point, in line with the state elections web site. Trulieve has contributed a minimum of $25 million to the marketing campaign to this point, in line with marketing campaign finance data.