Cannabis News
Florida Marijuana Legalization Campaign Sues State Over Alleged ‘Unlawful’ Attempt To Invalidate 200,000 Signatures For 2026 Ballot Initiative
A Florida campaign working to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2026 ballot is suing the state for allegedly taking “illegal” steps to force it to invalidate about 200,000 voter signatures it submitted.
Smart & Safe Florida filed suit against Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Inspector of Elections Mark Earley last week in Florida’s Second Judicial Circuit, alleging that the secretary’s signature verification criteria invalidate petitions that do not include the full text of the initiative.
That rule “was not anticipated by the state” regarding voting requirements, the campaign said. However, the Secretary earlier this month “ordered all Supervisors of Elections to invalidate more than 200,000 petitions from the Plaintiff, which the Supervisors had specifically verified against statutory criteria.”
A spokesperson for the campaign told Marijuana Moment on Monday that the lawsuit “requires the Secretary of State to follow Florida law and prevent the State from denying the voices of Florida voters who have signed petitions.”
“We’re asking the courts to enforce Florida law, it’s that simple,” they said. “The state is trying wrongly after changing the rules and denying these registered voters their voice in the process.”
The lawsuit, first notify Politico noted that the secretary’s decision to target the cancellation of petitions “comes less than four months before the February 1, 2026, ballot verification deadline.”
At the beginning of the secretariat Smart & Safe sent a letter of resignation to Florida in Marchadvising the campaign on the interpretation of the rules regarding the inclusion of the full text of the proposed initiative in its petitions for signatures, “without specifying any statute, regulation or order” to support its implementation.
“While the Secretary has delegated authority to establish the style and requirements of a citizen initiative form, he does not have the authority to create and implement additional verification criteria not provided for by the Legislature,” the lawsuit states. “No Florida statute expressly or impliedly requires the Full Text Form to be given or shown to a voter before signing a petition.”
Despite legal questions about the revised signature-gathering criteria, the campaign voluntarily complied with the secretary’s directive and began including the full text of the petition. But more than six months after the initial contact, Division of Elections Director Maria Matthews sent an email on Oct. 3 to all of the state’s 63 county supervisors “to rescind any Smart & Safe petition directed at them” before adding the full text of the voter-signed initiative.
“Although the Clerk intends for voters to have the opportunity to read the Full Text Form before signing the petition, there is no statutory or regulatory requirement that a voter verify and count the request to read the full text,” the lawsuit states. “The Secretary’s Directive is imprecise, illegal, ultra vires and void.”
“Due to the Secretary’s Directive, Smart & Safe questions its rights and obligations as a sponsor of the Proposed Amendment,” he added.
The campaign is asking the court to affirm that the secretary lacks legal authority to “impose additional verification criteria” for petition signatures, order the state to “invalidate otherwise valid petitions” under the secretary’s directive, restore the validity of petitions that were allegedly invalidated, and provide any other relief deemed necessary.
Beyond the legal challenge over the signature criteria, there’s another curious wrinkle in how the state has navigated the initiative so far, as the secretary of state apparently missed a statutory deadline to submit the measure to the Florida Supreme Court for legal review after meeting the initial threshold of 220,016 valid signatures.
According to the state Division of Elections, Smart & Safe Florida has collected 662,543 valid signatures as of last count. It needs to verify 880,062 signatures by February 1, 2026 to be voted on. In June, the state confirmed the campaign enough has been collected to initiate a fiscal and judicial review of the initiative.
This is the second vote of the campaign. They successfully got a vote on a version of the 2024 initiative, and a majority voted to pass it, but not enough to meet the state’s 60 percent threshold to pass a constitutional amendment.
An estimated 200,000 applications could be at risk of being invalidated, and with limited time to make up the gap, the campaign could be in jeopardy if the court upholds the state’s mandate to impose new signature criteria.
In the background of this case, in August a federal judge ruled against Smart & Safe Florida—Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to provide “full relief” from provisions of a law he signed to impose other severe restrictions on signature gathering.
Although the law DeSantis signed in May was not directly aimed at the cannabis initiative, there has been concern among supporters that it could jeopardize an already complex and expensive process to gather enough signatures to put it on the ballot. That’s because it would block non-residents and non-citizens from collecting signatures for ballot measures.
In March, two Democratic members of Congress representing Florida asked the federal government to investigate What they described as an “illegal diversion” of millions in state Medicaid funds Through a group with ties to DeSantis. The money was used to fight a popular ballot initiative the governor vehemently opposed that would have legalized adult marijuana.
The lawmakers’ letter alleges that a $10 million donation from a state legislative settlement was misappropriated to the Hope Florida Foundation, which later sent the money to two political nonprofits, and sent $8.5 million to the anti-Amendment 3 campaign.
A grand jury is now taking testimony on that case ahead of possible indictments.
The governor said this in February The latest measure to legalize marijuana is in “big trouble” with the state Supreme CourtHe announced that it will be blocked from going before the voters next year.
“There are a lot of different views on marijuana,” DeSantis said. “It shouldn’t be in our Constitution. If you feel strongly about it, you have a legislative election. Bring back the candidates you think will be able to deliver what you think about it.”
“But when you put these things in the Constitution, and I think, I mean, the way they were written, there’s all kinds of things going on here. I think it’s going to have a lot of trouble getting passed by the Florida Supreme Court,” he said.
the last the initiative It was introduced to the secretary of state just months after initial versions failed in the November 2024 election, despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
The revised version of Smart & Safe Florida is expected to be successful in 2026. The campaign — which received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry players in the last election cycle, notably from multi-state operator Trulieve — introduced some changes in the new version that address criticisms of opponents of the 2024 push.
For example, it now specifically states that “smoking and vaping marijuana in any public place is prohibited.” Another section states that the legislature should adopt rules governing the “time, place and public manner of consuming marijuana.”
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Last year, the governor accurately predicted this The campaign’s 2024 cannabis measure would survive a legal challenge From the state attorney general. It’s not entirely clear why he thinks this version will face a different outcome.
Although there is uncertainty about how the state’s highest court will navigate the measure, a poll released in February It showed the overwhelming support of a bipartisan voter for reform— 67% of Florida voters support legalization, including 82% of Democrats, 66% of independents and 55% of Republicans.
However, the results echo another recent poll by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, which found a majority in favor of reform among likely voters (53 percent). but not enough to be able to set the 60 percent condition.
Another poll of Republican voters in Florida showed only 40 percent of that demographic said they would vote for it of the legalization proposal.
Also, a GOP senator from Florida recently claimed this the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure misleading him and the general public about key provisions.
Before the election, Trump said he was sorry last September The 3rd Amendment “would have been great” for the state.
Before commenting, Trump met with Truliev CEO Kim Riversas well as a GOP state senator who favors reform.
Meanwhile, there are medical marijuana officials in Florida actively expunging the records of patients and caregivers with drug-related criminal records. The policy is part of the sweeping budget legislation that DeSantis signed into law earlier this year. The aforementioned provisions address the State Department of Health (DOH). void the records of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if convicted of drug offenses, or pleaded guilty or no contest.
Read the Smart & Safe Florida campaign the case Against the state petition criteria:
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Bountiful Farms placed first and second in the licensed solvent-free concentrate division at this year’s NECANN Cup, then also won the mixed licensed and unlicensed division to win best overall, putting the Massachusetts operator in the running for best in show with the highest-scoring product in New England.
© Bountiful Farms
NECANN is the largest B2B cannabis event in New England and the second largest in the country, attracting over 9,000 attendees. Everything is unbranded. Licensed and unlicensed operators in the six New England states compete only in product. Zachary Taylor, Director of Agriculture at Bountiful Farms, says the win for Maine’s craft growers means a lot to him and his team. “Whenever you compete against Maine, with its regulations and the craft culture of the caretakers, to be considered a craft on our scale is the greatest honor. When you look at cups across the nation, you see cups of culture, and Maine is always well represented. To be recognized on the same playing field and to excel at this scale is very difficult, and I don’t think that’s what people mean.”
Of course, rosin isn’t given more forcefully to Bountiful Farms. But Zach in a clean way
© Bountiful Farms he says, “A good raisin doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It comes from the flower.” The award-winning genetics were bred by Crystal Rose, and built around a high-resin, terpene-rich expression.
“The buds come in within 15 minutes of harvest, it’s like a timer,” Zach says. “Then we move them to a chest freezer, before moving them to an aisle freezer, where they’ll sit until they’re cleaned. All the rosin is pressed by hand in a hydraulic press.” At its scale, Bountiful Farms must use automation to achieve consistently high quality. “But we have very practical components,” he said. “The backlash of the press tells you how hard it is to go. Same approach with agitation, for example. The flower heads themselves, how we maintain the integrity of the trichome, the rise time of the wash, the temperatures: everything is handled like a small-scale race.”
That level of attention comes from the team. Matt Bearup, now a solventless QC manager, started growing and built the hash lab from the ground up all by himself. There are currently eight hash makers, all passionate about complex genetics and terpenes. Strains include not only the main terpenes, but also tasting notes and effects. Using the SC Lab framework, limonene as the current focus. “There’s not a lot of that in the hashish sector in particular. Several growers are moving in that direction.”
© Bountiful Farms
“There’s not a lot like it. Several breeders are moving in that direction.”
Bountiful Farms has been producing rosin since 2021, when the category had little traction
© Bountiful Farms in Massachusetts. Since then, the company has expanded into a high-end cultivation center to produce even more rosin. They operate two production rooms and processes not only for themselves, but also for other clients including Native Sun, Breathe Free and u4ea. They have recently opened two new dispensaries, allowing them to expand into recreational retail from 2021. Another limited release of the full melt is planned, along with a dual-cartridge solvent-free pen developed with O2 Vapes, two flavors in one device.
“When you bring award-winning companies together, you get products that represent the industry at its best. Massachusetts deserves its place among the leaders in this industry. When we win, the industry wins.”
For more information:
Prosperous Farms
prosperous farm. take care of
Cannabis News
Federal Drug Testing Rule Will Require ‘Directly Observed’ Urine Collection From Truck Drivers
Over the past week, many news organizations have been running exaggerated headlines about a supposed change by the federal government to allow marijuana to be brought into airports and airplanes. But it’s not true, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) tells Marijuana Moment.
“TSA’s policy on medical marijuana has not changed,” a TSA spokeswoman said in an email Wednesday.
“According to the TSA website: If any illegal substance or evidence of criminal activity is found during the security screening, TSA will refer the matter to law enforcement,” they said. While it’s true that the agency’s list of medical marijuana “What can I bring?” section of its website was updated on April 27, there were no major changes in policy.
Currently, the website says “Yes,” passengers can carry medical marijuana in carry-on and checked bags with special instructions. But the TSA cannabis policy has said “Yes” to medical marijuana, with the same caveats, since 2019.
Read more at Marijuana Moment
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