Florida’s attorney general announced 46 new investigations into a campaign seeking to put recreational marijuana on the 2026 ballot.
James Uthmeier on Jan. 20 accused Smart and Safe Florida of submitting fraudulent petitions and failing to inform law enforcement, but Smart and Safe Florida says they complied with state law and reported any suspicions to the Secretary of State’s office.
Uthmeier said his Office of Statewide Prosecution reviewed records that showed 50 petition circulators associated with the campaign submitted 21,600 petitions, and 14,500 raised “significant concerns.”
The press release did not detail specifics; Uthmeier’s office did not return a request for comment.
This investigation is the latest escalation in the marijuana campaign’s entanglement with state authorities. The campaign also faces a close deadline of Feb. 1 to submit 880,062 signatures to make it onto the midterm ballot.
And Uthmeier has long been an adversary of marijuana, having led a political committee that used state-linked funds to fight and ultimately defeat a 2024 marijuana ballot initiative.
The Smart and Safe Florida campaign said in a statement that it segregates suspicious petitions before submitting them to county supervisors of elections. A document provided shows the sheet sent to counties when it identifies “flawed or duplicate petitions.” Florida law requires ballot initiative campaigns to report irregularities to state authorities.
“In short, it appears the Attorney General is taking issue with the fact that we explicitly follow the law,” the campaign said in a statement.
Uthmeier’s office also announced four criminal subpoenas seeking records from the marijuana campaign and its contractors.
In terms of criminal cases, the marijuana campaign faced scrutiny when one of their petition gatherers was charged with fraudulent petitions in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. That investigation was focused on the campaign’s efforts in the 2024 election cycle to amend Florida’s constitution to allow adult-use marijuana.
But the marijuana campaign also has had its hands full with legal challenges and lawsuits.
Smart and Safe Florida faced one roadblock after a circuit court upheld the invalidation of 200,000 petition signatures ordered by Florida officials. State authorities said that the petitions didn’t include the full text of the proposed constitutional amendment.
At the same time, the campaign alleged that Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd was violating state-mandated procedures, since he hadn’t transmitted the petition to the attorney general’s office once it met a signature threshold under Florida law.
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Stephany Matat is based in Tallahassee, Fla. She can be reached at SMatat@gannett.com. On X: @stephanymatat.