In what has become a perennial event, multiple states will allow voters to determine whether to legalize adult-use cannabis this November.
The biggest state deciding on legalization is easily Florida. Voters in the nation’s third-most populated state to convert its existing medical market to one that can also sell to all consumers over 21.
Twenty four states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use cannabis already. As the state with the third largest population, Florida would become a major cannabis market. The Sunshine state already has 676 medical dispensaries that would be ready and permitted to sell to non-medical consumers, as long as at least 60% of the voters support Amendment 3.
Florida has 25 licensed operators who are permitted to grow, process and sell cannabis to the state’s more than 800,000 registered medical patients. There is no limit on the number of dispensaries that an operator can open.
Amendment 3 would allow medical operators to begin selling to non-patients, without any legislative action, which would be needed to create a pathway for new entrants to the market beyond licensed medical operators.
BDSA, which is a cannabis-centric data analysis company, found that there were over $2.6 billion in sales of medical cannabis ion Florida throughout 2023.
An Emerson College Poll that was released on Sept. 6 showed 64% of support for legalizing adult-use cannabis.
Florida State Law requires 60% of the vote for an amendment, and polling has not always shown a clear victory for legalization in the Sunshine State.
Safe & Smart Florida, which is the political action committee that is supporting Amendment 3, has reaped just over $100 million in campaign contributions, as of Sept. 20, according to the state’s campaign finance database.
Trulieve, a Florida-based multi-state operator is putting their money where their mouth is, contributing over $90 million so far, as of Sept. 20. Fellow cannabis giants, Verano and Curaleaf also kicked in $3.5 million and $3 million, respectively.
Currently, 25 companies hold licenses to grow, process and sell medical cannabis. Those licenses, which do not limit the number of dispensaries each company is allowed to operate, control 676 open dispensaries across the state, according to state’ Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
The Dakotas both have existing medical programs, and both states are flanked by Montana and Minnesota where adult-use is now legal.
North Dakota legalization advocates are hoping that the third time’s the charm for voters to approve adult-use cannabis. Similar measures failed in 2018 and 2022.
North Dakota’s Measure 5 would legalize adult-use cannabis. Specifically, it would allow for up to seven cultivation/processing licenses, and 18 dispensaries. Individuals and organizations are limited to owning or having a stake in one manufacturing facility and four dispensaries each.
There is not a lot of publicly available polling data on North Dakota’s ballot measures, but a Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted June 15-19 found that 57% of the voters were opposed to legalization. Since that time, former President and current candidate Donald Trump has come out in favor of legalization in his home state of Florida, joining his political rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Meanwhile, South Dakota is also on its third try at legal adult-use. Voters approved legalization in 2020, but it was quickly challenged in court. A year later the state’s Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the measure was unconstitutional because it violated the state’s single-subject rule.
Advocates in South Dakota tried again in 2022, but this time, the measure lost at the ballot box 54% to 46%.
This latest incarnation prescribes a state statute that would govern the development of the legal market, rather than a constitutional amendment.
That distinction could prove to be irrelevant. Recent polling data has shown 51.8% of likely voters in opposition in addition to 6.6% undecided.
Nebraskans will get the opportunity to decide if they want become the 39th state with legal medical cannabis, but there is no guarantee that the vote will be binding, due to the possibility of fraudulent signatures on the petitions that got legalization onto the ballot.
The state actually has two ballot measures that involve cannabis. One would legalize possession and use of medical cannabis, while the second would require the state to create a regulatory agency and rule to govern a medical cannabis market. Both have been scrutinized over signature validity.
Polling has shown strong support among Nebraska voters in favor of medical cannabis.
Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers announced felony fraud charges against Mike Egbert after his signature pages were flagged for numerous invalid signatures.
Secretary of State Robert Evnen still certified the measures because there were still enough signatures to make it valid with the exclusion of those deemed invalid.
Hilgers is still investigating the remaining signatures, and a lawsuit has been filed in state court seeking to block the ballot measures.
Nebraska District Court Judge Susan Strong dismissed two of the four claims in the lawsuit, preserving the ones that assert that there were enough invalid signatures to bar the measures from the ballot.
If Hilgers or the court determines that there were an insufficient amount of valid signatures, the ballot measures would be tossed regardless of what the voters say.
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