This article was originally written by Michael Pollick on August 27, 2015and posted on heraldtribune.com
Two voter initiatives to legalize marijuana in Florida have been approved by the state’s Division of Elections, clearing the way for their sponsors to attempt the Herculean task of gathering 683,149 verifiable voter signatures apiece.
A very straight-forward proposal backed by some of the state’s best-known cannabis activists, Parrish residents Bob and Cathy Jordan, would simply make marijuana legal.
“The amendment guarantees the right of persons over twenty-one years of age to possess, use and cultivate cannabis (commonly referred to as marijuana),” the ballot summary states.
The measure, “Right of Adults to Cannabis,” would reserve to the state the power to regulate the plant’s purchase and sale in the interest of health and safety.
“Yes, we are affiliated with it, and this is the one we will get behind,” Bob Jordan said.
While that measure is short and sweet, taking just a few sentences to convey, a separate proposal called “Regulate Florida” is highly detailed and takes up four pages.
Regulate Florida’s primary author is Tallahassee attorney Bill Wohlsifer. The proposed amendment “is very comprehensive. It doesn’t leave that much for the Legislature to do,” Wohlsifer said.
“Regulate Florida” would legalize adult growing, consumption and possession of cannabis but also would turn marijuana into a legal, regulated product in Florida, much like alcohol. It would be legal for adults 21 or older to own up to an ounce of marijuana, grow up to six plants within their own residence, or give away marijuana to someone else.
If approved, the measure would set a July 2017 deadline for Florida state government to begin licensing and regulating commercial grocers, processors and retailers.
The Florida Legislature is likely to weigh in on taxes and fees on any proposed constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana.
The obstacles
To be sure, to become a constitutional ballot initiative, either Regulate Florida or “Right of Adults to Cannabis” has major obstacles in front of it, just like those faced by the United for Care, which has resurrected its medical marijuana initiative and is aiming for November 2016 ballot boxes.
After gathering the first tenth of the required voter signatures (68,314 out of 683,149), the groups must turn the initiative over to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for review. She is likely to turn it over to the Florida Supreme Court, as occurred with last year’s proposed medical marijuana amendment. Assuming the court finds the ballot language acceptable, the Regulate Florida group will then go after the rest of the signatures required.
Once the issue is on the ballot, either legalization plan would likely need a multimillion-dollar war chest pay for TV ads promoting its cause.
The lineup for 2016 legalization initiatives is getting longer, and the pool of funding for such ventures is limited.
“We are going to have adult legalization in California, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine,” said Kris Krane, co-founder and managing partner at 4Front Advisors, a cannabis consulting firm. “When looking at the landscape in 2016, my concern would be the movement is spreading itself very thin.”
“They’re going to need $10 million if they are going to do this right in Florida,” Krane said. “If they’re going to be successful in pulling something like this off, they are going to need to find donors who are in Florida and interested in doing this in their state.”
Some specifics
Where “Right of Adults to Cannabis” is open-ended as to the amount each household could grow, “Regulate Florida” is very specific and limiting in this regard.
Under “Regulate Florida,” adults would be allowed to grow up to six cannabis plants within their own primary residence, “provided that the growing takes place in an enclosed, locked space, is not conducted openly or publicly, and the cannabis so grown is not made available for sale.”
In a further limitation, the amendment would specify that three or fewer of the plants could be mature or flowering plants.
Chairing the Regulate Florida group is Michael Minardi, a Stuart-based defense attorney specializing in cannabis cases. He successfully defended the Jordans in 2013 after Bob Jordan was charged with growing marijuana on behalf of his wife, who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Floridians for Freedom, the group the Jordans now back, is based in Melbourne, and is chaired by Jodi K. James.
Both of these two legalization efforts are in the process of getting their websites cranked up for public viewing: RegulateFlorida. com and FloridiansForFreedom.com.
Four states plus the District of Columbia have legalized adult use of marijuana, typically with the same kind of limits included in the Regulate Florida petition. Ohio voters will consider legalizing marijuana in November. Nevada’s voter initiative will appear on ballots in November 2016. The other states, such as California, are still raising money and fine-tuning their language.