Florida: 3 popular initiatives to legalize cannabis rejected

The ballot initiatives to legalize cannabis in Florida failed to gather the necessary signatures to be submitted to the electorate. The deadline was February 1.

To be included in next November's referendum, each proposed initiative had to pass two thresholds. First, each had to gather 222,898 signatures to be considered in committee. Second, the measures had to gather a total of 891,589 signatures to make it onto the November ballot, if deemed constitutional by the state Supreme Court.

Of the three proposed initiatives, only one obtained enough signatures to be considered, but the state courts rejected the proposed amendment on legal grounds.

The other two attempts did not reach the required number of signatures for voters to decide whether or not to legalize cannabis in Florida. In addition, several ballot proposals aimed at reforming the state's medical cannabis provisions also failed to clear the hurdles required to get on the ballot.

Still a (slim) hope

Having failed to reach the required number of signatures, only the state of Florida can now carry a legalization project.

Currently, four legalization proposals are in the Florida Senate and House of Representatives. These four bills are divided between the two houses of the Florida legislature and, if passed, will only become law if they are approved by the Governor and the accompanying bills are passed.

But the proposals, which depend on each other, lack bipartisan support. Moreover, due to the extremely polarized political climate of the Florida legislature, it's unclear whether any of the bills can actually land on the governor's desk. What's more, any measures passed will still need to be signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who has so far refused to move towards legalization.

The candidates for his replacement are, more interested in the subject.