Florida’s Supreme Court has knocked back another proposed constitutional amendment allowing recreational cannabis use in the state.
The court voted by five to two that a proposal by political committee Sensible Florida included ballot wording that would mislead voters.
It’s the second time in two months that the court has thwarted recreational cannabis campaigners – in April it rejected a proposal by the Make It Legal Florida committee by the same margin, albeit for different reasons.
The proposed amendment was framed as regulating cannabis in a similar way to alcohol, but the court was unhappy with the wording in the proposed ballot summary, which voters would see when they go to the polls at the end of next year.
It said the measure would regulate cannabis “for limited use and growing” by people aged 21 and over, but the court majority deemed it misleading because the full amendment would not limit personal use.
In a published opinion, it said: “The ballot summary here is not accurate. It falsely tells voters that the proposed amendment limits the use of recreational marijuana. Because the proposed amendment itself ‘does no such thing’ it should not be placed on the ballot.”
Backers of proposed constitutional amendments need to submit around 900,000 valid petition signatures and win Supreme Court approval of the ballot wording before they can take issues to voters in the November 2022 election.
