What’s Next for Regulate Florida?

People are starting to get copies of a petition entitled, “Legalizes Personal Use Marijuana for Adults Twenty-One or Older, Permits Adults to Cultivate Marijuana” in their mailboxes. Florida Cannabis Action Network is being asked to weigh in on the petition.

First, the folks at Regulate Florida need to be congratulated for getting the petition this far. The group’s first effort was stopped by the Florida Supreme Court earlier this year. In order to even circulate a petition, there are some big hurdles including submitting the complete language to the Florida Secretary of Elections.

The Florida Cannabis Action Network was the only Cannabis group fighting the legislators in 2019 and 2020 when leadership cracked down on citizen’s initiatives. New initiatives like the one proposed by Regulate Florida have tough hurdles to beat before they reach the ballot.

Signature gathers must be registered with the state, the group faces huge fines for turning in late petitions, and they must pay each county Supervisor of Elections in order to verify the signatures. The petition sponsor must collect 25 percent of the required signatures across the state in each of half of the state’s congressional districts before it goes to the Supreme Court for review.

Supreme Court review will make or break a campaign. The process is prescribed by law, the Florida Attorney General weighs in, and the lawyers for the petition defend it. The Supreme Court will decide three things:
1. Is the ballot summary clear and accurate?
2. Does the amendment conform to the single-subject rule?
3. Is it “facially valid under the United States Constitution”?

If the petition fails to meet the threshold for all three of those issues it can’t go to the ballot. In the past, campaigns would collect the signatures needed for the Supreme Court review and then suspend signature collection while they waited on the review.

As if that isn’t tough enough, the amendment sponsor has to have all of the signatures validated by February 1, 2022.

As Florida CAN we encourage you to read the full text of the Regulate Florida petition. If you believe it is what you want 5-10 or twenty years from now, plan to do the work it takes. If you just want something, anything, sign the petition and help Regulate Florida make the Supreme Court review.

If and when the petition makes the Supreme Court review expect a further analysis of the language and the impact it will have on the future of Cannabis in Florida.

Remember, whatever you are doing now to end the prohibition of Cannabis and keep your friends and family safe, keep doing it. If you really want to end Cannabis prohibition and help create sensible policies we can all live with, join FLCAN today.