Florida adult-use marijuana legalization marketing campaign says it is nonetheless alive

In defiance of the state elections officers who declared the marketing campaign kaput on Sunday, the marijuana multistate operator-funded effort to legalize adult-use hashish in Florida stated Monday it may well nonetheless qualify for the November poll.

In line with Secretary of State Twine Byrd, the Good and Protected Florida marketing campaign failed to gather the required 880,000 legitimate signatures from registered voters by a Feb. 1 deadline.

However Byrd’s declaration on Sunday “is untimely,” a marketing campaign spokesperson stated.

Florida is the nation’s largest medical-only hashish market. However with affected person progress within the state slowing, legalization represents a large alternative for the authorized trade.

However with Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state Republican Social gathering dead-set towards adult-use marijuana legalization, passing a constitutional modification through voter initiative is legalization’s greatest – and solely – probability.

Trulieve Hashish has spent greater than $200 million on marijuana legalization

After spending greater than $150 million on a 2024 legalization bid that fell quick, Tallahassee-headquartered MSO Trulieve Hashish Corp. has poured not less than $52 million into qualifying legalization for the 2026 poll, marketing campaign finance information present.

In line with the state Division of Elections, the marketing campaign submitted solely 783,592 verified signatures by Sunday’s deadline, because the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

However that tally is much wanting what the marketing campaign submitted, and county elections officers are nonetheless counting signatures, in keeping with a marketing campaign spokesperson.

“We submitted over 1.4 million signatures and imagine, when they’re all counted, we may have greater than sufficient to make the poll,” a marketing campaign spokesperson instructed the Tallahassee Democrat.

Florida marijuana legalization marketing campaign vows to combat on

State officers – together with DeSantis, who brazenly despises marijuana legalization and has lobbied towards it – have tried to thwart the measure practically each step of the best way, going so far as to make use of regulation enforcement powers to thwart hashish reform.

On Jan. 20, state Legal professional Normal James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ former chief of workers, stated that just about a dozen canvassers had been arrested on suspicion of violating new elections restrictions DeSantis signed into regulation final yr.

That got here after Byrd sought to invalidate practically 200,000 signatures the marketing campaign claimed have been legitimate, sparking a authorized problem that up to now the state has received.

Uthmeier stated final week that the election fraud probe has expanded to each county within the state.

The brand new election legal guidelines are the main focus of a lawsuit that has its first courtroom listening to scheduled for Feb. 9.