Floridians get to free the weed at the ballot box Nov. 5. What’s at stake? Scores of weed arrests, and at least $200 million per year in tax revenue for a massive, newly legal economy. 

Also, tens of millions of dollars more in criminal justice savings from fewer arrests, and prison sentences. 

That $200 million figure comes from a 2023 State of Florida economic analysis.

 A Leafly News analysis adds in the estimated cost of 66,000 annual arrests in Florida for weed, plus tax projections based on legalization in other states. The net fiscal impact could be many millions of dollars more.

A June Fox News poll has Amendment 3 passing with 66% of the vote. Eligible Florida voters should ensure they’re registered to vote by October 1.

The current penalties of pot prohibition

‘Marijuana is legal enough in Florida,’ some voters will say. ‘There’s already legal medical cannabis and hemp.’ 

There’s also prohibition. Prosecutors filed some 66,000 counts of possession of marijuana charges in Florida in 2023, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

“Florida is arguably among the leading states in marijuana-related arrests — if not the leader,” said Paul Armentano at NORML.

Holding a sack is a first-degree misdemeanor, and can get you a year in prison. By contrast, Florida Amendment 3 legalizes up to 3 ounces of weed and 5 grams of hash. Amendment 3 reads: “The non-medical personal use of marijuana products and marijuana accessories by an adult … is not subject to any criminal or civil liability or sanctions under Florida Law.”

It would be a game-changer in a state where a sandwich baggy of weed (over 20 grams) can get you a third-degree felony and five years in prison in Florida. The number of pot charges per year is increasing, reports state. 

How much does Florida pot enforcement cost?

So how much does 66,000 weed arrests cost Floridians? State analysts left it out.

Leafly estimates the bill for those charges alone start at $13.2 million.

Each misdemeanor has to take a minimum of one police hour to issue, and one court hour to charge, notice, and arraign. Cops and court officials aren’t cheap. They can easily run $100 per hour when you factor in salary, benefits, and pension. 

Forgoing most weed arrests should save millions to tens of millions of dollars in law enforcement costs for weed per year.

Pro-legalization activists say the true number can be 10 times higher. 

In 2010, the pro-weed group Drug Policy Alliance calculated that each pot arrest costs a state $1,000 to $2,000. That’s $99 million per year in Florida cops writing pot tickets and courts serving paperwork.

California analysts predicted “tens of millions” in court savings before Prop 64 passed in 2016. California is roughly twice the population of Florida.

Floridians missing out on tax revenue, too

States with pot prohibition not only fork out dough to persecute potheads. Floridians forgo the tax revenue of economic activity already occurring on their block. That’s where the number really bites.

Legal weed would face Florida’s 6% state sales tax, plus local taxes, and fees.

Florida’s state economists see legal weed as generating “Based on other states’ experiences, … at least $195.6 million annually in state and local sales tax revenues once the retail market is fully operational.”

That $200 million may prove low. The conservative legislature would probably pass “sin taxes” on pot. Benchmarked to California revenues, Florida would rake in $500 million in annual taxes from legal weed.

What can Floridians do with $200 million in revenue?

Passing Florida Amendment 3, would result in revenue and savings that are hard to fathom. One easy way to measure it: the savings and tax revenue could pay for at least 2,000 new teachers, at the going rate.

So that’s some back-of-the-envelope math for when people say, “Why legalize weed in Florida, isn’t it legal enough?”

Read on for more details. 

Counting more costs: Felonies, defense attorneys, and prison cells

When Leafly says “millions to tens of millions of dollars” in cops and court savings, we’re being conservative. Prohibition places measurable and immeasurable burdens on its targets and society at large. We’re not counting felony cases, nor the cost of defense attorneys, and imprisonment or supervision.

For example, a felony arrest can cost the defendant $10,000 to $15,000, stated Christopher Cano, Executive Director of Suncoast NORML. That money pays for pre-trial intervention rehab to expunge a first offense. 

“I know this for a fact because it happened to me in 2014,” Cano stated.

And then there’s the prison and probation costs, too.

• About 3 out of 50 people heading into a Florida prison cell each year go in for holding weed or selling weed, according to state reporting.
• About 140 people sit in a Florida state prison for pot. 
• Each prisoner costs $88,000 for the prison bed, guards, and food each year, the state of Florida estimates.

A substantial reduction in pot prisoners yields millions of dollars more in savings.

We’ll keep updating this post as more info comes to light.

Sources

—Florida Financial Impact Estimating Conference – Adult Personal Use of Marijuana – Serial Number 22-05 July 13, 2023

—‘Florida could legalize marijuana, but people arrested still face tough road’, Tampa Bay Times, July 11, 2024, via the Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator

—California Prop 64 summary and text with fiscal analysis

—Drug Policy Alliance, 2010, NY Prohibition Costs

—Florida sales tax rate

—Cost of Florida prison beds

—Florida school teacher salary

Ohio legalization Issue 2 is kicking in, but it’s not like a big movie premier where legal cannabis is in every town at once. Voters legalized it just last November, and The Buckeye State is rapidly implementing retail store legalization, in contrast to other states that took years. Read on if you’re an illicit market shopper coming out of the cold, or a law-abiding type who has just been waiting for this fine day.

Where is legal weed available?

It’ll be available at medical cannabis dispensaries approved to sell adult-use cannabis. Newly legal stores will pop up across the state all summer long—like stars coming out at night, one by one. We will list the legal stores below.

The applications will be processed on a first-come first-served basis by the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control. According to reports, Bloom Medicinals, for example, hopes to have their application approved by June 24. Ohio has about 126 dispensaries open statewide.

You can possess 2.5 ounces of flower and up to 15 grams of extract. You can’t smoke in public or drive or boat high. For more background, read our ‘Ohio just voted to legalize cannabis. Here’s what happens next’.

At least 54 cities and counties—mainly suburbs—will opt out of sales for now. Citizens affected by local bans can contact their representatives because certainly cannabis opponents are.

How much will it cost?

Cannabis starts at about $3 per gram right now for low-grade ‘shake’ in the medical system, which will be a good baseline for upcoming recreational prices. The top end hits $12 per gram. Expect prices to rise maybe 20%  as demand swamps supply. Eventually, supply equalizes and surpasses demand, and prices will start falling. In mature weed states like Oregon, joints can go for as little as $2.

One-gram cartridges run in the $50 to $60 range.

Ohio will add a 10% excise tax to cannabis sales. The state has a 5.75% sales tax, as well as local taxes of up to 2.25%. The Ohio industry could gross $1 billion per year from roughly 1 million monthly smokers.

Watch an Associated Press news video on the roll-out

What are some good strains to try?

The top-searched strains in Ohio this month are:

This list offers some good places to start for popular strains, and what a sophisticated collection of current cultivars we see. It shows how cannabis appreciation ignores state lines and trends have become global. Ohio truly is The Heart of It All.

I don’t want to smoke weed, though.

Then legalization is your huckleberry. Adult-use sales also include gummies, vaporizers, dabs, topicals, and more. So many medical patients avail themselves of cannabis therapy when it becomes legal and they need not involve a doctor or health organization.

That said, stay out of trouble by knowing your limit and staying under it. Here is a handy guide to edibles dosing for beginners. Edibles are where most people get in the most trouble.

Also, lock up your edibles and weed away from kids to avoid accidental poisonings.

What are Ohio’s top cannabis brands?

Ohio has big brands found in other states. Including:

Contact Leafly sales to drive more orders with a poppin’ brand page.

What are some of Ohio’s top cannabis stores?

According to Leafly data, popular stores include:

See a map of all dispensaries in Ohio on Leafly.

Contact Leafly sales to get your store listed on the Leafly Map.

What happens next?

New stores flip to adult-use virtually weekly—the pace is set by how fast regulators approve applications. Ohio has 126 medical dispensaries. A large fraction will aim to serve the 1 million-strong adult-use market.

Regulators will award applications on a first-come first-served basis. The sooner a dispensary submits its application, the sooner it’ll hear back from the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control.

Got any more tips?

Do your research. Bring cash and a valid ID. Plan to spend some time enjoying your first dispensary experience.

See a weird word? Use our Leafly Cannabis Glossary to stay current on the new language of ganja.

Have questions?

Drop them in the comments below. There is so much to learn so click on over to our Learn pages to get started.

The federal war on marijuana has entered the end game.

today, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officially moved to re-categorize marijauna as having medical use and a low potential for abuse.

For the first time since 1971, the US federal government is seeking to end cannabis’s designation as a “Schedule I” controlled substance—equivalent to drugs like heroin and PCP. Instead, the US intends to consider marijuana a Schedule III substance—on the same level as codeine.

The Associated Press appears to be the first to report the news, with it being picked up by Marijuana Moment.

Legalization polls in the 70s, and medical legalization polls in the 90s. Cannabis champion and congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) stated in an email:

“If today’s reporting proves true, we will be one step closer to ending the failed war on drugs. Marijuana was scheduled more than 50 years ago based on stigma, not science. The American people have made clear in state after state that cannabis legalization is inevitable. The Biden-Harris Administration is listening.” 

The rescheduling follows a request that President Biden made to US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in October 2022 to review the scheduling of marijuana under federal law. (Biden had simultaneously issued pardons for federal prisoners convicted on marijuana charges.)

In January, activists learned the US Dept. of Health and Human Services had recommended to the DEA that marijuana move to Schedule III.

The re-scheduling move carries immense consequences, from research opportunities to tax code reform for cannabis businesses. Yet it’s far from a silver bullet: On its own, rescheduling does not decriminalize or legalize cannabis; nor does it facilitate interstate commerce for the industry.

Read on to learn more about the significance of cannabis rescheduling, what it accomplishes, and what it leaves unsolved.

What was so bad about Schedule 1?

Marijuana’s Schedule I has proved catastrophic over the decades. In 1971, with a hefty push from the hardcore prohibitionist President Richard Nixon, the DEA added cannabis to the nascent list of Schedule 1 Controlled Substances. Authorities deemed it to have no medical value, and high potential for abuse. Schedule 1 drugs include heroin, cocaine, and quaaludes.

Police arrested millions of Americans for marijuana since 1971. Drug arrests became the No. 1 type of arrest police made, and pot became the No. 1 type of drug arrest. You could lose your children, housing, education, job, and more under the Schedule I designation.

Also, scientists could not study cannabis easily. Furthermore, a drug’s Schedule 1 status prevents its legalization; even today, states that allow for recreational or medical marijuana sales are technically in violation of federal law.

What will Schedule III change?

According to the DEA’s own definition, Schedule III substances present “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.” Cannabis’ new classification puts it on par with ketamine, Tylenol with codeine, and testosterone.

One of the most potentially consequential impacts of rescheduling is also one of the wonkiest: Thanks to a line in federal tax code referred to as 280e, cannabis businesses pay crippling taxes, sometimes upwards of 65-75%. It also prevents businesses from deducting many of their expenses from their taxes. Thanks to rescheduling, the 280e policy will no longer apply; it could open the door to new growth and investment.

As a Schedule III substance, scientists will have easier access to researching cannabis as well. Furthermore, as Marijuana Moment points out, rescheduling could loosen restrictions around federal employees consuming cannabis.

What does rescheduling leave unfixed?

In short, rescheduling cannabis to Schedule III is just a step toward full legalization. It does not decriminalize personal possession in prohibition states like Texas, nor does it facilitate interstate commerce.

 “It is a rather modest step given the strong support among American voters for comprehensive cannabis reform,” said Matthew Schweich, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s leading cannabis policy reform organization.

What’s next?

The DEA’s recommendation for rescheduling now goes up for public comment—likely for several months through the General Election on Nov. 4. President Biden will likely campaign on promises kept. One poll shows the incumbent President receiving an 11 percentage-point bump in voter approval for rescheduling. Medical marijuana polls at 90% approval, while Gallup has legalization polling at 70%.

The rescheduling news offers the chance to increase pressure for bigger change as well, said longtime cannabis tax expert Henry Wykowski. He heads to Washington DC in May to lobby for reform, and said this provides ammo.

“This is good opportunity to keep the pressure up to make sure they really do follow through on it this time,” said Wykowski.

Experts react to the news

Experts applauded the DEA’s rescheduling move, and looked back on the hard-fought win.

Brian Vicente helped lead America into legalization from Colorado and is the founding partner of national cannabis law firm Vicente LLP, which has been actively engaged in the Coalition for Cannabis Scheduling Reform. He said the move is a big effing deal.

We have entered a new era of dialogue and policy around this historically maligned plant.”

Brian Vicente, Vicente LLP, Colorado

“This is a remarkable about-face by the DEA, which spent decades denying the true medical value of the cannabis plant. While a strong case can be made for removing cannabis from the federal drug schedules entirely, rescheduling marks a huge step forward for commonsense cannabis policy in our country. This action will have massive impacts, both practically for the cannabis industry and symbolically for the reform movement. We have entered a new era of dialogue and policy around this historically maligned plant.”

Shawn Hauser, partner at Vicente LLP who closely follows the federal scheduling process called ther move, “likely the best outcome possible, given the realities of the federal administrative review process. This historic action by the Biden administration has the potential to embolden Congress to finally pass legislation that federally legalizes and regulates cannabis for medical and adult use.”

The top cannabis tax attorney Wykowski affirmed rescheduling offers relief to embattled cannabis licensees. Their taxes would go down. They would be able to take business deductions for the first time.

“[The tax code section 280E] been a terrible, unfair burden on the whole licensed industry—people who are really trying to comply with the law. It favored people in the illicit market who continued to sell without being licensed, regulated, tested, or taxed.”