Smart & Safe Florida, the political action committee primarily funded by Trulieve – the state’s largest medical marijuana company and fourth largest in the U.S. – this week filed a new proposal to put an amendment on the ballot in Florida in 2026 that would legalize adult recreational use of marijuana.
The filing with the Florida Division of Elections comes just over two months after Amendment 3 on the 2024 general election ballot was narrowly defeated 56%-44%, after failing to meet the required supermajority of 60%.
If Amendment 3 had passed, Florida would have joined the ranks of 24 other states and the District of Columbia that have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults, and the 25 companies currently licensed by the state to grow and sell marijuana for medical use – legal since 2016 – would have been allowed to do the same for recreational marijuana.
Gov. Ron DeSantis was a staunch opponent of Amendment 3, citing concerns ranging from making access too easy for school kids to the smell of marijuana permeating public places.
The new proposal seems to address some of those concerns, with the full ballot summary for the new proposal on the Division of Elections website reading: “Allows adults 21 and older to possess, purchase or use marijuana for nonmedical consumption. Establishes possession limits. Prohibits marketing and packaging attractive to children. Prohibits smoking and vaping in public. Maintains prohibition on driving under influence. Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. Allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers to acquire, cultivate, process, transport and sell marijuana to adults. Provides for creation of licenses for nonmedical marijuana businesses.”
Contacted this week for details on the new proposal, Trulieve spokesman Steve Vancore said the company was “not issuing any statements at this time.”
To be placed on the ballot in 2026, the measure would need 222,881 signatures – “25% of voters required by Section 3, Article 11 of the state constitution in one-half of the congressional districts for judicial and financial impact review,” according to the Division of Elections. The statewide total needed to make ballot position would be 891,523, with petitions “signed by 8% of the voters in at least one-half of Florida’s congressional districts and in the state as a whole as of the last presidential election.”
Trulieve, based in Quincy, spent more than $140 million on the Amendment 3 effort, which was almost 95% of the almost $153 million raised by Smart & Safe for the 2024 election.
