Florida Election Officials Advance Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Ballot Proposal

Florida officials announced this week they have taken the next step in
approving a petition submitted by the Smart & Safe Florida campaign to put
an adult-use cannabis legalization amendment on the 2026 ballot, the Florida
Phoenix reports.

The announcement came weeks after the campaign sued Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R)
administration in the state’s Supreme Court, claiming that election
officials were trying to block the proposal from reaching the ballot by
delaying the process.

Attorney General James Uthmeier, in a state Supreme Court brief filed
Tuesday, asked the justices to dismiss the lawsuit after officials “sent
the demanded … letter to Smart & Safe and submitted the initiative petition
to the Attorney General” on Monday.

In its lawsuit, Smart & Safe Florida claims it collected three times the
number of petition signatures required, but that election officials
purposely delayed recognition of the signatures.

Now that the proposal has been approved by state officials and delivered to
the attorney general, Uthmeier can submit the proposal to the Supreme Court
for a final review. The court has until April 1, 2026, to sign off on the
proposed amendment.

Florida constitutional ballot amendments require at least 60% of the
popular vote to pass. In 2024, an adult-use legalization amendment
supported by Smart & Safe Florida received just 56% of voter support,
capturing the popular vote but falling short of the threshold.