Is weed legal in Florida and will marijuana be on the 2026 ballot? – Tallahassee Democrat
Will Florida voters get the chance to make recreational marijuana legal this November?
That depends who you ask. State Attorney General James Uthmeier said no this week, citing a lack of valid petition signatures before the Feb. 1 deadline. The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday, Feb. 4, decided against considering the ballot text, a mandatory step in the process.
However, Smart and Safe Florida, the sponsor for the proposed adult-use marijuana constitutional amendment, says it’s not over yet and pending lawsuits could bring it back to the ballot.
The same group sponsored the last version of the amendment that nearly passed in 2024, gaining a majority of votes but failing to reach the required 60% threshold.
Here’s what to know.
Under Florida law, Smart and Safe Florida needed to have 880,062 signatures submitted by Feb. 1. The Florida Division of Elections website only listed 783,592 verified signatures by the deadline.
“Even with all the fraud and forgery, the latest weed initiative couldn’t garner enough public support to make the ballot,” Uthmeier said on X. “The Florida Supreme Court appropriately just dismissed the case. Floridians can continue to breathe free air for another election cycle.”
Smart and Safe Florida said that the announcement was “premature” since “final and complete county-by-county totals for validated petitions are not yet reported,” but Uthermeier said they simply missed the deadline.
However, the group is challenging an order from Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd to invalidate about 70,000 signatures because they came from “inactive” voters (registered voters who have not voted recently) or because they were collected by nonresidents or noncitizens.
Those restrictions came from a new state law, HB 1205, that brought stricter regulations for petition groups with harsher penalties that made getting a citizen-led constitutional amendment on the ballot much more difficult. The law was passed the year after Florida voters nearly passed amendments legalizing recreational marijuana and restoring the state’s previous abortion laws.
A federal judge has agreed that the provision which prohibits nonresident and noncitizen volunteers from gathering signatures restricts core political speech. Trial in that lawsuit is scheduled to begin Feb. 9.
It is unclear if a win in that case will result in the restoration of the invalidated signatures or, if so, the group would have enough to meet the requirement. “We submitted over 1.4 million signatures and believe, when they are all counted, we will have more than enough to make the ballot,” a Smart and Safe Florida spokesperson said.
In November, the state rejected about 200,000 petitions, saying they did not include the entire text of the constitutional amendment and a Leon County judge upheld the decision. Smart and Safe Florida opted not to appeal.
State law requires the state Supreme Court to review the text of all proposed constitutional amendments to ensure they are not misleading, they’re easy for voters to understand and they focus on just one topic.
In December, Uthmeier requested the court to review the ballot text of the proposed marijuana amendment. On Feb. 2, the day after the signature deadline, Uthmeier withdrew the request. On Feb. 4, all of the Supreme Court Justices (except Jorge Labarga) signed the order canceling the oral argument and dismissing the case, which had been scheduled for Feb. 5.
Yes, but only for residents diagnosed with a specific set of conditions who have applied for and received a Medical Marijuana ID Card or caregivers who have received a Medical Marijuana Caregiver Card.
No. During the 2024 General Election, an amendment that called for legalizing recreational marijuana in Florida failed to get the 60% of votes needed to pass. An attempt to do it again in November seems unlikely to make it.
Medical marijuana is legal here, but only for Florida residents with the following conditions who apply for and receive a Medical Marijuana Card:
That list might be expanded this year.
House Bill 719, filed by Rep. Bill Partington, R-Ormond Beach, would, among other things, allow medical marijuana for patients diagnosed with medical conditions treatable with Schedule II classified opioids. A companion Senate bill, SB 1032, was filed by Sen. Alexis Calatayud, R-Miami.
No. The state of Florida does not offer reciprocity.
Only licensed medical marijuana dispensaries may sell marijuana in the state of Florida. Even if the proposed recreational amendment passed, you would still will have to buy your pot at a licensed dispensary.
Assorted different types of so-called “diet weed” cannabinoids such as delta-8, delta-9, delta-10, and THC-O, which are derived from hemp and not marijuana and contain lower levels of THC, have been sort-of legal here under the 2018 federal Farm Bill that allows farmers to grow industrial hemp.
However, in November President Donald Trump signed a spending bill to reopen the federal government after a lengthy shutdown over healthcare subsidies. It also closed the Farm Bill loophole, effectively banning nearly all hemp-derived consumer products including CBD. That change has a one-year grace period before it goes into effect.
In 2024, the Florida Legislature passed a bill, SB 1698, that effectively banned delta-8 and delta-10 products and placed a 5-milligram-delta-9 concentration limit per serving but Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed it, reportedly to protect small businesses. They’re still federally illegal.
Yes. Drivers under the influence of drugs, including marijuana, face the same penalties as drunk drivers in Florida. That ranges from up to six months of jail time, a fine between $500 and $1,000, a license suspension, 50 hours of community service and a 10-day vehicle impoundment (for the first offense) to up to five years in prison, up to $5,000 in fines, lifetime license revocation and more for the fourth offense.
Penalties go up fast if there is a minor in the vehicle or you cause property damage, injury or death.
According to the Jan. 30 update from the state’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use, there are currently 742 licensed dispensing locations in Florida. You can search for a center near you at knowthefactsmmj.com/mmtc/.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.