Four states with legal marijuana on the November 8 ballot are traditionally conservative: Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, and South Dakota voters are all also considering measures legalizing cannabis, although only Missouri ultimately did so. Maryland was widely expected to approve legalization. And last month, President Joe Biden announced that he’s taking steps to overhaul America’s federal cannabis laws, starting by pardoning everyone convicted of simple marijuana possession at the federal level. Before Election Day, 43 percent of US adults lived in a jurisdiction that has legalized marijuana for adults over 21 sales of adult-use and medical marijuana products hit $25 billion in 2021 and, by one Wall Street estimate, could reach $100 billion by 2030. In Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota, though, voters rejected the measures.įederal marijuana legalization is seemingly stopped in its tracks.Īccording to an April 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 91 percent of US adults favor some form of marijuana legalization. Legal marijuana won in Maryland and Missouri, bringing the total of states where recreational use is allowed to 21. The results on Tuesday night were more mixed. Since then, a total of 19 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana. Last month, Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office and legislative leaders argued the initiative was misleading because it could open the door to pill mill-like marijuana outlets in every strip mall.Ten years ago, Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize marijuana for adult use when voters approved ballot measures in 2012. Proposed constitutional amendments have to avoid ballot summaries that are misleading, a decision the high court ultimately makes. Meanwhile, if they don’t make the deadline, Morgan said he’d re-focus on making the 2016 ballot.īut the initiative also is still waiting on the Florida Supreme Court to declare whether it meets legal muster. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, vowed to draft a bill legalizing the strain for prescription use, which is billed as “low buzz” because it is low in the psychoactive chemical that produces highs. Regardless of the deadline, the push has already prompted Florida lawmakers to take the issue seriously, holding a first-ever House hearing last week on the benefits of a strain of marijuana known as “Charlotte’s Web” pushed by the parents of children suffering from epileptic seizures. “The validity of petitions is going to naturally fall off as we are sending so many in recent weeks and as folks have signed more than once,” he said. “I’m going to have the signatures it’s just a matter of if they’re valid,” Morgan said.īenjamin Pollara, who is running the signature drive, said he was confident they would qualify once all the signatures were counted. But some supervisors have said the quality of the petitions is getting worse. If three-fourths of those signatures are valid, the group would likely make the ballot. Morgan said he had faith the company would deliver and has already collected more than 1 million signatures. ![]() But he was “not predicting” whether the initiative would qualify. ![]() Orange County Elections Supervisor Bill Cowles said his office was keeping up with the influx. ![]() Nevertheless, “They’ve got some work to do,” he said. “They’re turning up the volume,” said Seminole County Elections Supervisor Mike Ertel, who brought in extra staff this week to help verify signatures. This week, the group has dropped tens of thousands of signatures in Central Florida supervisors’ offices, which verify them. According to the Florida Division of Elections website, the effort has garnered just over half the signatures needed in only nine districts so far, mostly Democratic seats in the Orlando, Tampa and South Florida markets.
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