Marijuana

A circuit judge backed arguments by Smart & Safe Florida, which faces a Sunday deadline for submitting enough valid signatures to put the proposed amendment on the November ballot.

The three-judge panel overturned a circuit court's ruling on inactive voters and upheld a ruling on petitions gathered by nonresidents, with the net effect of invalidating more than 70,000 signatures.

The measure would prohibit smoking or vaping marijuana in a variety of places, such as streets, parks, beaches, government buildings, office buildings, lodging establishments and restaurants.

The committee behind the proposed constititional amendment filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order Secretary of State Cord Byrd and his office to “comply with their statutory obligations.”

The state urges a judge to reject a lawsuit challenging directives that invalidated tens of thousands of petition signatures for a proposed ramendment, citing fraud prevention and voter inactivity.

The Florida Supreme Court will make a decision on whether the proposed recreational constitutional amendment meets legal tests to go on the November ballot.

In the latest battle over marijuana legalization, Smart & Safe Florida alleges in a lawsuit that Secretary of State Cord Byrd improperly directed county election supervisors to invalidate about 71,000 petitions.

The bill that ended the shutdown includes a provision to ban THC drinks and snacks derived from hemp. The $24 billion industry is now scrambling to save itself before the measure takes effect a year from now.

Lawyers for the Smart & Safe Florida committee said they were waiving the right to appeal Leon County Judge John Cooper's ruling “to provide finality to this matter and certainty to the result.”

Despite the rise in use, seeking treatment for cannabis use disorder has become less common. Experts say this is partly due to the misconception that marijuana is safe and nonaddictive.

Elections officials sent the proposed constitutional amendment to the attorney general and advised Smart & Safe Florida that the measure was headed to the Florida Supreme Court for review.

The proposal adds marijuana to a series of outdoor public places where smoking tobacco is already banned.