Two Florida Adult-Use Initiatives Planned for 2020

Cannabis advocates have filed a new petition to put adult-use cannabis on the 2020 Florida ballot with the Florida Secretary of State. This latest legalization effort in Florida is spearheaded by political action committee Make it Legal Florida, chaired by Med Men lobbyist and former Republican advisor Nick Hansen.

Known as “Adult Use of Marijuana,” the prospective constitutional amendment will allow for adults over 21 to purchase and/or possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis but does not include homegrows. The initiative also includes language regulating cannabis advertising, packaging, and distribution, and would allow existing medical cannabis treatment centers to sell cannabis to adults over twenty-one.

“Public opinion is on our side, and the time to act is now. Florida voters on every side of the aisle overwhelmingly support this initiative and at Make it Legal Florida, we are committed to ensuring Floridians have a chance to have their voices heard.” — Hansen, via Marijuana Moment

Earlier this year, Regulate Florida — the group behind Florida’s successful medical cannabis Constitutional Amendment passed in 2016 — filed their own petition to put a people’s initiative on the 2020 ballot. The group recently collected the 76,632 signatures needed to trigger a Supreme Court review and economic impact study of the initiative.

Unlike the Make it Legal Florida effort, however, Regulate Florida’s initiative would allow for personal cultivation but does not include medical marijuana treatment centers in the initiative language. 

Over seventy percent of Floridians turned out to support medical cannabis in 2016 and a recent Quinnipiac University Poll revealed Florida voters were in favor of legalizing adult-use cannabis, sixty-five percent to thirty percent. Despite the high polling numbers, it’s unclear how having both initiatives on the ballot might affect the vote outcomes.