By Florida-based advocacy group Smart & Safe Florida (SSF) has been working hard to win the cannabis legalization initiative on the 2024 ballot. The latest developments include a new brief filed with the Florida Supreme Court.
July 19th, Smart and Safe Florida, along with Florida Medical Cannabis Business Association and Kato Institutefiled a new brief in the Florida Supreme Court against Attorney General Ashley Moody, who is challenging the effort. The Supreme Court called this “high profile case“
in the simplyThe SSF says a “roadmap” of cannabis voting efforts has guided cannabis reform, but Moody is changing that process. “Over the past few years, the Court has established a ‘roadmap’ for sponsoring marijuana-related voting efforts. In drafting the initiative, the SSF followed that clear roadmap. But the Attorney General and other opponents now argue that the Court should suddenly rewrite the map.” described in the abstract. “The Attorney General’s main argument is that this Court should set aside three recent precedents that explicitly encouraged voting sponsors to use them as blueprints for drafting future initiatives.”
When I try to “redrawIn this initiative map, Moody suggests that the Supreme Court “… should abandon the standard of review that it has consistently applied to voting initiatives for decades, essentially arguing that the Court has erred in dozens of decisions, and devise a new and more lenient standard to set aside precedent,” the SSF argues.
The SSF asks the Supreme Court to “reject its erroneous efforts to abrogate established legal rules for thinly veiled policy agendas.” confirmation The SSF’s efforts “meet the legal requirements to appear on the ballot,” it said.
Florida Medical Cannabis Business Association and Kato Institute A separate brief was also issued.
The Florida Medical Cannabis Business Association said Moody’s argument “is misleading because it fails to make clear that the cannabis industry may remain unregulated for any significant period of time in the production of cannabis for personal, non-medical use by adults, ignores current regulatory schemes that will continue to be maintained, is speculative, and does not believe Florida’s history of strong regulation of cannabis.” The group argues that the ballot title and outline are not misleading and should be approved.
of Kato InstituteThe brief argues that the ballot initiative did not violate the state’s single subject rule on ballot initiatives.
To be fully eligible for the SSF vote, 891,589 valid signatures must be submitted. In March, the SSF submitted 420,000 signatures toward the initiative’s goal of qualifying to vote, but only 222,881 signatures were needed to prompt the Florida Supreme Court to review the ballot text to move forward.
Two months later, in May, Moody filed an opinion that the ballot did not meet the requirements of the Single Subject Rule. “We are very much looking forward to [Moody’s] Analysis is important, but both the written and oral arguments in the Florida Supreme Court and the affirmative decision from that court are more important,” SSF said at the time. “As an aside, it is important to note that the Attorney General’s opinion is not binding and the matter will be decided after both sides have expressed their opinions in the Florida Supreme Court.”
By June, Moody formally challenged the effort, taking a legal position that the title and outline of the ballot were “inaccurate and misleading” because cannabis was still illegal under federal law. Earlier, Moody also called the plan to vote from 2021 “misleading,” and the Florida Supreme Court rejected the action.
Cannabis company Trulieve in total $39.05 million Towards putting the legalization initiative on the ballot in 2024.
If the initiative goes to the ballot and is approved by voters, it would not only allow medical marijuana businesses that currently operate to sell adult-use marijuana, but would also allow state legislators to increase the number of dispensaries. Residents will be allowed to carry up to 3 ounces of flowers and up to 5 grams of concentrate by adults, but the current form does not allow home cultivation and does not say anything about revoking cannabis convictions or social equity licenses.
