Florida marijuana legalization effort stinks, state AG tells high court

A marijuana multistate operator-backed push to legalize adult-use cannabis in Florida is attempting to mislead voters around – among other things – cannabis’ smell, the state attorney general claimed.

Attorney General James Uthmeier’s accusation, made in a state Supreme Court filing and supported by key business groups, including the state Chamber of Commerce, is the latest in a long string of efforts to thwart legalizing adult-use cannabis in the country’s biggest medical-only market.

And it comes amid an ongoing challenge to signatures already collected by legalization campaign Smart & Safe Florida, which is primarily bankrolled by Tallahassee-based MSO Trulieve Cannabis Corp.

Florida adult-use marijuana legalization campaign misleads around cannabis smell, AG claims

With more than $1.8 billion in medical cannabis sales, Florida is poised to become one of the biggest adult-use markets in the country after legalization.

Despite support from President Donald Trump, the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis seems determined to stop it.

According to The Tampa Bay Times, Uthmeier – a former chief of staff to DeSantis, who opposed the 2024 legalization effort – called the Smart & Safe campaign “fatally flawed” and unconstitutional as well as misleading.

In addition to claims that the amendment violates state law limiting constitutional amendments’ scope, Uthmeier paid particular attention to cannabis’ smell – and claimed that while the Smart & Safe amendment prohibits cannabis use “in public,” there’s no guarantee that Floridians wouldn’t smell marijuana.

“The ballot summary would lead voters to believe that voting yes would ensure there is no marijuana — or its smell — ‘in public,’ while the actual amendment delivers no such thing,” the attorney general said in filings, according to the Times.

“The ‘in public’ summary language would likewise deceive Florida parents into thinking this initiative will prohibit marijuana smoking near their children in hotels, restaurants, sports venues, and other areas open to the general public. The initiative provides no such protection.”

Smart & Safe’s response is due in court on Jan. 12.

Will Florida legalize adult-use marijuana in 2026?

In a statement to the Times, the campaign pointed out that a similar effort from DeSantis’ administration to defeat the 2024 campaign at the state Supreme Court failed.

“5.9 million voters approved of the measure in 2024, and over a million Florida voters have signed petitions to put the current language on the ballot, we hope their voices won’t be ignored,” the statement read.

To pass a constitutional amendment in Florida, a 60% approval is required. Trulieve-backed Amendment 2 failed in November 2024 despite more than $150 million in campaign spending and an endorsement from Donald Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee.

Trulieve CEO Kim Rivers is credited with convincing Trump to issue the historic Dec. 18 executive order downgrading cannabis to a Schedule 3 drug.

However, there are more complications this time around at the state level in Florida.

In a separate court case, Smart & Safe is fighting state elections officials over their decision to invalidate tens of thousands of signatures.

Smart & Safe must submit at least 880,062 valid signatures by Feb. 1.

The campaign has submitted just over 675,000 valid signatures to date, according to the state elections website. Trulieve has contributed at least $25 million to the campaign to date, according to campaign finance records.