Florida voters, not politicians, should decide on recreational marijuana. Now they will | Opinion
Florida has been inching toward this day: In November, voters will be able to decide whether they want to legalize recreational marijuana in the state for adults 21 and older.
It was time.
The decision to put the item on the 2024 ballot came as little surprise from the Florida Supreme Court, which reviews the wording of constitutional amendments. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had already signaled as much, saying as early as January that he thought the item would get onto the ballot.
Medical marijuana is already legal in Florida, and has been since 2016. Recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states plus the District of Colombia, as of February 2024, according to the Pew Research Center, and another 14 allow the drug for medical use only.
The court ruling Monday, which became almost a footnote after a high-profile abortion decision, found that the wording of proposed constitutional Amendment 3 was sufficiently clear for voters, removing the final barrier to putting the question on the November ballot.
The state stepped in when Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody urged the justices to reject the ballot summary language as misleading. The court rejected that argument, as it should have.
Floridians are familiar with this issue. In 2021, the court rejected another recreational marijuana initiative on grounds that the wording of the ballot summary did not address the contradiction with federal law.
This time around, the wording seems to do so pretty clearly, saying, in part, the measure “applies to Florida law.” Also, Americans have known for years now that marijuana laws vary from state to state. This is far from secret.
Times have changed. At the end of 2023, there were more than 800,000 medical marijuana cardholders in Florida.
If this measure passes in November, it would go into effect in May 2025.
Florida has made it harder and harder for citizen-led ballot initiatives like this one to actually reach voters, mostly for political reasons. In this particular case, Republicans may not want to see the issue on the ballot for fear that it will increase voter turnout for Democrats.
There is no guarantee that having marijuana on the ballot will help Democratic candidates, however. In 2020, Florida approved raising the state minimum wage while also voting for Donald Trump by larger margins than in 2016.
Whatever your feelings about recreational use of marijuana, the fact that this question will reach the ballot is a positive. Voters should decide issues like this, not politicians. In a state dominated by one party, that’s especially true.
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This story was originally published April 1, 2024 at 4:19 PM.