This week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody intensified the legal battle to keep a proposed constitutional amendment that would authorize the recreational use of marijuana off the ballot in 2024.
In a brief filed Wednesday, lawyers for Moody said the measure “misleads” voters in a way to benefit the state’s largest medical-marijuana operator, Trulieve.
Tallahassee-based Trulieve has contributed all but a fraction of the nearly $40 million raised by the Smart & Safe Florida political committee for the proposed “Adult Use of Marijuana” initiative, which would go on the 2024 ballot.
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Attorneys representing Moody, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and the Drug Free America Foundation have filed briefs arguing the Supreme Court should reject the proposal.
Moody’s office argued in Wednesday’s brief that the measure would help Trulieve continue its dominance in Florida’s legal cannabis market.
“This carefully curated ballot summary misleads in ways that, though sometimes subtle, are likely to influence voters — and to do so in a way that entrenches the sponsor’s monopolistic stranglehold on the marijuana market to the detriment of Floridians. The initiative should be stricken,” state Solicitor General Henry Whitaker wrote in the brief.
Trulieve defended the proposal, which has drawn briefs in support from the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Florida Medical Marijuana Business Association and the Cato Institute.
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“The ballot language is clear, states the chief purpose of the amendment and — without a doubt — covers one and only one subject. For these reasons, we trust the court will agree that the voters of Florida should have the opportunity to vote to allow adults in Florida the freedom to use cannabis for their personal consumption,” Trulieve said in a statement Wednesday.
The proposal needs ultimate approval from the Florida Supreme Court. Under the Florida Constitution, ballot initiatives must not be confusing to voters and address a single subject.
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