Florida Fails to Pass Amendment Legalizing Recreational Weed

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 6, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A ballot measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in the state of Florida failed on Tuesday.

While 55.9% of Florida voters backed the proposed amendment, it did not reach the 60% threshold needed to make the initiative part of the state's constitution.

"With the rejection of Amendment 3, Floridians have taken a firm stance against the dangerous drugs the pot profiteers tried to convince the public are harmless," Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which opposes marijuana legalization, said in a statement.

“Amendment 3 was bad for Florida and even worse for Floridians,” Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement. “This pro-drug amendment was bad for our kids, bad for our communities, bad for our local business, and ultimately bad for Florida.”

David Culver, senior vice president of the U.S. Cannabis Council, told the Washington Post that the supermajority threshold required by Florida was too much to overcome this election.

“This isn’t the end in Florida, it’s just the beginning since we’ve now seen how strongly the push for legalization resonates in the state,” Culver added.

Florida wasn't the only state to say no to recreational marijuana this election: Voters in North Dakota and South Dakota appear to have again rejected similar measures, the Post reported.

Meanwhile, voters in Nebraska handily approved two measures legalizing medical marijuana, though a judge could invalidate those results in the coming weeks, the Post reported.

Psychedelics, which have been touted by some as a potential treatment for depression and other mental health issues, also took a hit in the polls: In Massachusetts, voters rejected a measure that would have legalized plant psychedelics such as magic mushrooms for therapeutic use. Oregon and Colorado have already passed such laws, the Post reported.

At the moment, recreational marijuana is legal in 24 states and Washington, D.C., amid dramatic shifts in public attitudes about the drug. Gallup polling last year reported that a record 70% of voters support marijuana legalization.

Although marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, the Biden administration is seeking to loosen restrictions, but skeptics argue that high-potency marijuana products pose a risk to youth brain development and up the chances for addiction.

The Biden measure would not legalize marijuana at the federal level, but instead place it in the less dangerous tier of controlled substances that includes prescription ketamine and testosterone. That move could boost research into marijuana’s health benefits by easing federal restrictions for studying the drug.

More information

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has more on marijuana.

SOURCE: Washington Post; Florida Chamber of Commerce, news release, Nov. 6, 2024; Smart Approaches to Marijuana, statement, Nov. 6, 2024;