Large marijuana grow operation – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Canna Obscura
Florida election authorities said they have done so, weeks after a marijuana-supporting organization sued the DeSantis administration in the Florida Supreme Court for allegedly taking too long to place an amendment on the ballot.
A day earlier, Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews completed the step for which Smart & Safe Florida sued the state in late October, prompting Attorney General James Uthmeier to petition the court in a brief on Tuesday to dismiss the lawsuit.
This entailed sending out a letter confirming that the group had sufficient backing to move forward with its plan to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
The state’s response petition states that the only remedy requested in Smart & Safe’s petition is an order “compelling Respondents to issue the … letter, thus advancing the [Initiative] Petition.” “At this point, respondents have sent Smart & Safe the requested … letter and filed the initiative petition with the Attorney General.”
Months after the pro-marijuana group came close to legalizing the drug for recreational use during the 2024 election cycle, Smart & Safe filed its second lawsuit against the DeSantis administration over its proposal. Despite receiving 56 percent of the vote, the proposal did not meet the 60 percent requirement to be included in the state constitution.
Governor Ron DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis, and other high-ranking officials fiercely opposed legalizing marijuana, claiming in numerous press conferences that everything from corporate greed to the stench would harm the state. This failure followed a massive and costly statewide campaign.
After his campaign organization to oppose the amendment got millions of dollars from a Medicaid settlement awarded to Casey DeSantis’ charity, Hope Florida, Uthmeier, the former chief of staff of the governor, came under scrutiny.
According to reports, a grand jury is currently looking into Hope Florida’s finances and the DeSantis administration’s involvement in blocking the 2024 legislation.
What took place?
In its complaint against the state filed on October 31, Smart & Safe stated that it had informed Matthews and Secretary of State Cord Byrd in August that the measure had received over three times as many verified signatures (more than 660,000) as required to reach the ballot.
In order for the state to submit the proposal to the attorney general, who would subsequently forward the initiative for Supreme Court review, Smart & Safe had requested that the officials proceed to the next stage of the ballot initiative process, which would involve sending Smart & Safe a letter acknowledging that its petition had enough signatures. To secure a spot on the ballot, the group must collect a total of 880,000 signatures.
However, that did not occur.
According to the Phoenix, Smart & Safe claimed that Florida was deliberately stalling the marijuana amendment by trying to delay Smart & Safe’s proposal in its petition asking the Florida Supreme Court to order the state to submit the letter.
That was in reference to Byrd’s order on October 3rd for county supervisors to destroy up to 200,000 signatures, which is about a quarter of the total number required to be eligible for next year’s ballot, because organizers did not send the full amendment to everyone they sent.
This served as the foundation for Smart & Safe’s circuit court lawsuit against the administration on October 19.
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
