Setback in court docket for Florida marijuana legalization marketing campaign as arrests proceed

A Florida appeals court docket on Friday dealt one other blow to an adult-use marijuana legalization marketing campaign beneath mounting deadline stress to qualify for the November poll.

The setback in court docket for the Sensible & Protected Florida marketing campaign comes on the heels of state legislation enforcement arresting one other paid marketing campaign employee for alleged election fraud, a part of a wide-ranging effort by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration to defeat hashish legalization earlier than voters have their say.

Sensible & Protected has till Feb. 1 to gather and submit 880,000 legitimate signatures from registered state voters to qualify a constitutional modification legalizing hashish for adults 21 and older for the November poll.

Grownup-use hashish legalization could be an enormous enhance for the marijuana trade in Florida, dwelling to the nation’s greatest medical-only market. An analogous effort narrowly failed in 2024. Sixty % help is required to go a constitutional modification in Florida.

Why a Florida decide dominated marijuana legalization marketing campaign signatures invalid

Late final 12 months, Secretary of State Wire Byrd instructed state officers to invalidate greater than 70,000 signatures already submitted by Sensible & Protected.

Sensible & Protected sued to cease the invalidations, however after a decrease court docket partially dominated within the marketing campaign’s favor, the first District Courtroom of Attraction discovered Friday that Byrd’s orders to invalidate the signatures are legitimate.

Byrd ordered some signatures be declared invalid since they had been collected by out-of-state marketing campaign employees – a brand new requirement imposed in 2025, following a slim defeat for legalization in 2024.

Others had been nullified as a result of they got here from so-called “inactive voters,” who’re registered to vote however haven’t responded to mail from elections officers to substantiate their addresses.

The marketing campaign filed an emergency movement on Sunday to have a full appellate court docket hear the matter, in response to the Information Service of Florida.

Sensible & Protected has submitted greater than 760,000 legitimate signatures as of Monday, in response to the state elections web site.

Arrests of hashish marketing campaign employees proceed

It’s the second legalization push from Sensible & Protected, which is bankrolled primarily by Trulieve Hashish Corp., the Tallahassee-based marijuana multistate operator that’s the biggest hashish retailer within the state.

However state officers in DeSantis’ administration have been combating legalization almost each step of the best way – waging a “political warfare” towards hashish reform, within the phrases of 1 native elections official.

Within the meantime, not less than 9 marketing campaign employees had been arrested as of final week for alleged fraud.

On Friday, Legal professional Basic James Uthmeier introduced the arrest of a 41-year-old marketing campaign employee for allegedly soliciting signatures – after which utilizing voters’ data “to fraudulently fill out and submit voter registration purposes with out their permission.”

“There is no such thing as a excuse for a mega marijuana company and its associates to fraudulently hijack Florida’s Structure,”  Uthmeier mentioned in a press release Friday.