Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana for adults in Florida, garnered 55.8% of the vote, falling short of the 60% threshold needed to pass. While the initiative had the support of President-elect Trump, the opposing forces led by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis carried the day. Supporters may draw some comfort from the fact that a clear majority of voters supported legalization, but the fact remains that adult-use cannabis will remain illegal in the Sunshine State for the foreseeable future.
Leaving aside the fact that getting 60% of voters to agree on anything these days appears to be a tall order, Amendment 3 faced active opposition from Florida’s leadership. While themselves driven by a fundamental dislike of cannabis, Gov. DeSantis and his team deftly tapped into concerns that came from different places altogether, such as the lack of provisions for home grow and related concerns over the entrenchment of “Big Weed”.
Looking at the big picture, it is remarkable to see how much Floridians’ attitudes toward cannabis have changed in the past decade. Back in 2014, it was a medical cannabis initiative that fell short of the 60% supermajority requirement. Ten years on, a legal medical marijuana industry is well established in Florida.
Despite the progress, the experience with Amendment 3 suggests that further reliance on the initiative process is not the path forward for legalization advocates. Just getting the proposed amendment on the ballot required overcoming legal challenges from the state government, before addressing the challenge of seeking 60% of votes in the nation’s third-most populated state.
A more sensible approach might be to focus on the fact that legalization is already supported by a majority of Florida voters. For elected officials in large swathes of the state, support for legalization could be a boon. And the fact that concerns over Big Weed control helped defeat opposition to Amendment 3 presents a political opportunity, not for those who double-down on prohibition, but for those who refine approaches to legalization.
We’ll discuss the Florida result on Thursday in a free webinar (register here), along with the disappointing results in North Dakota and South Dakota, the win (for now) in Nebraska, and a few other state and local measures on cannabis regulation. Hope to see you soon.