Florida voters reject a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana

Florida voters rejected a ballot measure that would have legalized recreational marijuana for adults at least 21 years old and allowed them to possess up to three ounces of marijuana.

It failed to obtain the required 60 per cent threshold at a time when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is making moves to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Florida’s Republican-dominated government has a lengthy history of opposing marijuana legalization.

Another measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution was too early to call Tuesday night.

The approval of the marijuana measure wouldn’t have immediately made marijuana legal in Florida. It would have allowed the Florida Legislature to create regulations or decide how to implement the amendment during the legislative session that begins in March.

Florida Republican officials were mixed on their support for this ballot measure. Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican legislative leaders opposed the measure, with DeSantis saying it only benefits large marijuana corporations and would leave a marijuana stench in the air.

But former president Donald Trump signalled support in early September for the measure and a potential federal policy shift to reclassify marijuana. He said he’d vote in favour of the initiative, one of the few positions where he and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris agreed.

A medical marijuana ballot initiative in 2014 failed to receive the required 60 per cent threshold to pass. In 2016, then-governor Rick Scott approved a law allowing medical marijuana for patients with terminal conditions, and in that same year Florida voters approved a ballot referendum that extended access to people with conditions including HIV, PTSD, Parkinson’s disease or Crohn’s disease.