Recreational marijuana in Florida likely on hold for years

Anyone hoping that Florida voters would get a shot at legalizing recreational marijuana in 2018 will likely be disappointed.

Organizers of the two primary efforts to get the issue on the state’s Nov. 6 ballot say they won’t come close to collecting the required 766,000 petition signatures by the Feb. 1 deadline.

The groups now hope that 2020 will be their year.

“We're going to continue on," said Michael Minardi, a Tampa attorney who leads Regulate Florida, which is proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow Floridians over the age of 21 to use, cultivate and sell marijuana. "We're excited about 2020. Because we know that the people are on our side."

Minardi said this week that his group likely has collected at least 40,000 signatures.

He said Regulate Florida hopes to gather enough by February to trigger a state Supreme Court review of their proposed amendment language — a key step in eventually getting a measure on the ballot. Though that would require more than 36,000 more signatures.

A separate pro-legalization group, Floridians for Freedom, wants to make cannabis cultivation, possession and use a basic right for adults over 21 under Article 1 of the Florida Constitution.

This differs philosophically somewhat from Regulate Florida's approach in that it would make marijuana use a basic right, not simply a product that is regulated like alcohol, said Colby Wise, a member of Floridians for Freedom's board of trustees.

"In our opinion, it creates a stronger sense of protection for the citizens of the state by establishing it within Article 1, where our basic rights are derived," Wise said. "We believe that, by doing it that way, it might actually stand up to resistance from federal authorities."

Wise said his group, largely made up of unpaid volunteers, has collected about 30,000 signatures — again, well short of the number needed to get on the ballot or even get a Supreme Court review.

Public opinion seems to be on their side.

More than 71 percent of Florida voters backed a measure in 2016 legalizing medical marijuana as a treatment for a wide variety of "debilitating" illnesses, a landslide by any measure. The proposal won by strong margins in all 67 Florida counties.

And, while legalizing the drug for recreational use may be slightly less popular, polling shows growing support.

A recent Gallup poll put support for recreational marijuana at 64 percent, the highest level it has ever recorded and four percentage points higher than it was just a year ago. A 2016 poll in Florida put support at 56 percent, below the needed 60 percent to pass a constitutional amendment.

But public opinion alone won't translate into law. That takes political organizing and, by extension, money.

Amendment 2 had the backing, and deep pockets, of attorney John Morgan. And, even with $9 million in his own money contributing to the cause, it took two ballot attempts to win.

Morgan, who many thought might run for Florida governor in 2018, said he now backs full cannabis legalization.

Records show that Regulate Florida's political action committee, Sensible Florida Inc., has received about $260,000 in donations since 2015, about $64,000 of which was the value of services provided by Minardi himself. Floridians for Freedom has received about $28,000 in cash and in-kind donations during this same period, records show.

Ben Pollara, who worked closely with Morgan to get Amendment 2 passed, said that recreational marijuana's chances in the short-term don't look great in Florida. He said the Republican-led Legislature won't do it on its own. And, he notes, the cause does not yet have its own version of John Morgan leading the charge.

"I think it will happen in Florida, just like it will happen nationally, barring some major marijuana-related disaster that causes a major shift in public opinion," Pollara said. "But, 'short-term' in Florida is the next 10 years. Definitely not the next five."

Follow this reporter on Twitter: @FrankGluck

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