TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A proposed constitutional amendment to allow recreational marijuana use in Florida won’t be on the 2022 ballot after the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the ballot language was misleading.
The court, in a 5-2 decision, said proposed ballot language that says marijuana is “for limited use and growing by persons twenty-one years of age or older” is misleading.
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The court said nothing in the proposal's actual wording limits marijuana use.
The proposed amendment, called “Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol to Establish Age, Licensing, and Other Restrictions,” already faced an uphill battle. Its sponsor, Sensible Florida, had just 29,000 of the more than 890,000 voter signatures needed to get on the ballot.
On top of that hurdle, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill that limits contributions to groups sponsoring ballot initiatives to $3,000 per individual during the signature gathering stage. Only when a proposal is approved for the ballot are unlimited contributions allowed. The new law takes effect July 1.
Most of the more than $222,000 Sensible Florida has raised wouldn’t have been allowed under the new law.