NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Supporters of making marijuana legal in Florida now have overwhelmingly more than enough petition signatures to get it on the November ballot — pending a decision by the state supreme court.
Steve Vancore, a spokesperson for “Smart & Safe Florida,” said a number of publicly-released polls show 65% support for the initiative.
“They want individual adults to have the freedom to use marijuana for their own consumption,” Vancore said.
It’s similar polling to the medical marijuana amendment Florida voters passed 2-to-1 seven years ago, but with far more opposition now among conservative-leaning state leaders.
The effort to get it into the state constitution is citizens’ end run around that.
The 70′s country music duo Bellamy Brothers are the public face of the campaign.
But the $40 million bankroller is Trulieve, the state’s largest medical marijuana provider, with the vast majority spent on the costs of gathering and paying for supervisors of election offices to verify signatures.
“We are cautiously optimistic based on the comments from the members of the Supreme Court,” Vancore said.
In oral arguments last month, justices considered the actual wording voters would see on the ballot.
An attorney for state Attorney General Ashley Moody said she “opposes this ballot placement because we think in several ways the summary is misleading.”
Meanwhile, an attorney for “Smart & Safe Florida” argued that the amendment’s chief purpose “is to ensure that adults 21 years and over can personally use and possess marijuana products.”
Justices are expected to opine on the measure in January. If they make no decision by April 1, the measure automatically makes the ballot.