The cannabis legalization group behind Florida’s unsuccessful 2024 ballot measure won’t be taking any time off in its pursuit to reform the state’s laws for those 21 and older.
Smart & Safe Florida, a political action committee chaired by David Bellamy of the pop music duo The Bellamy Brothers, filed a new initiative on Jan. 14 with the Florida Division of Elections to place a constitutional amendment to legalize adult-use cannabis on the state’s November 2026 ballot.
The new filing comes two months after Florida voters provided 56% majority support for a similar initiative, Amendment 3, that appeared on the 2024 ballot, falling short of the 60% supermajority threshold for the ballot measure to pass—a benchmark that voters approved in the 2006 election.
“Tonight, a strong majority of Floridians voted in support of legalizing recreational marijuana for adults,” Smart & Safe Florida officials said in a press release on election night. “While the results of Amendment 3 did not clear the 60 percent threshold, we are eager to work with the governor and legislative leaders who agree with us on decriminalizing recreational marijuana for adults, addressing public consumption, continuing our focus on child safety, and expanding access to safe marijuana through home grow.”
RELATED: Florida’s Cannabis Legalization Measure Fails Despite Majority Support
Although the 2024 measure drew bipartisan support—including from President-elect Donald Trump, a Florida voter—it was vehemently opposed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who claimed public places would be overwhelmed by the smell of those smoking cannabis.
The governor’s administration also accused the 2024 campaign’s main financial supporter, Tallahassee-based Trulieve, of attempting to create a monopoly for the state’s existing medical cannabis operators through an automatic transition to a forthcoming adult-use marketplace, failing to mention that most states follow this course to help ensure a smooth shift to an expanded program and that the measure implicitly allowed for other entities to be licensed.
According to campaign finance records, Trulieve contributed more than $145 million of the $154 million in donations to fund the 2024 legalization push.
Others condemned the 2024 measure based on public health and safety fears often pushed by prohibitionists, from claims of increased youth use to impaired driving.
While Smart & Safe Florida’s new initiative for 2026—the “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana”—contains many of the same provisions, it added language to the ballot summary clarifying that the measure would “prohibit smoking and vaping in public,” “maintains prohibition on driving under [the] influence,” and “prohibits marketing and packaging attractive to children.”
Also, the 2026 ballot summary maintains language regarding the proposal applying “to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law.” This was a key inclusion necessary to survive the Florida Supreme Court’s judicial review process in 2024 after justices rejected a pair of measures aimed at landing on the state’s 2022 ballot measure.
The 2026 initiative also proposes to:
Allow adults 21 years or older to purchase and possess up to 2 ounces of cannabis flower or 5 grams of concentrate for personal use from a licensed dispensary;Allow the state’s existing medical marijuana treatment centers (MMTCs) licensed as of Jan. 1, 2025, to remain vertically integrated while expanding to a forthcoming adult-use market;Protect adults 21 and older, physicians and licensed cannabis operators from criminal or civil liabilities or sanctions under Florida law for use, possession, recommendations and/or commercial operations under the amendment (licensed cannabis delivery drivers couldn’t go to jail for simply doing their jobs); Leaves regulatory duties in place for the Florida Department of Health, as currently delegated under the state’s voter-approved medical cannabis amendment, including licensing additional market entrants for an adult-use program; Define public places to include, but not limited to, all parks, beaches, public transit, roads, sidewalks, trails, schools, arenas and government buildings; Allow private real estate owners to prohibit cannabis use on their properties; Allow the Florida Legislature to adopt legislation to provide for home cultivation of cannabis by adults for their personal use;Allow the Florida Legislature to adopt legislation that taxes cannabis sales and appropriate such tax revenues to state programs; and Require the Florida Legislature to adopt legislation related to regulating public consumption and licensing additional market entrants before the effective date of the bill (May 1, 2027).
The legislative requirement in that final bullet point veers from the 2024 proposal.
Smart & Safe Florida filed the new proposal a day after DeSantis announced a special legislative session to begin on Jan. 27, in part, for lawmakers to overhaul the state’s citizen initiative process for proposing constitutional amendments, such as the cannabis and abortion-related amendments that failed in 2024, The Associated Press reported.
DeSantis’ Department of State claimed in September 2024 that many of the petitions that helped land the abortion rights constitutional amendment on November’s ballot were fraudulent.
Smart & Safe Florida, the political committee behind 2024’s failed measure, filed a new proposal for a constitutional amendment with minor tweaks. Read More
