In the upcoming general election, Florida voters will get a chance to decide whether they want to approve the use of marijuana for recreational purposes.
Matthew Peddie, host of "Florida Matters" and the podcast "Our Changing State," speaks with WUSF reporter Sky Lebron about what Amendment 3 means.
The current state of marijuana
In 2014, then-Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Senate Bill 1030 — the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act — to allow the use of low-THC, high-CBD cannabis oil produced from the strain of cannabis known as Charlotte's Web.
In 2016, more than 70% of Floridians voted to pass the Florida Medical Marijuana Legalization Initiative referendum, which expanded the existing limited state medical marijuana program from only terminal patients to include more patients.
“Right now, if you want to buy weed in the state, you either have to get approval from a licensed doctor, then you could go to a local medical dispensary once you're approved, or you can buy it illegally, as a ton of people across the state still do every single day. That's just the real situation that we're in,” Lebron said.
What Amendment 3 allows
Amendment 3, if passed, would allow anyone over the age of 21 to go into a dispensary and buy whatever cannabis products they want. Florida would join 24 other states in allowing that.
It also sets the limits for how much a person can carry on them.
"As it currently stands, if you have over 20 grams of marijuana, then you face a third-degree felony. And it doesn't matter if it's 20 grams or 20 pounds, you're still facing that third-degree felony,” Lebron said.
“This would change that to be three ounces, which doesn't sound like a lot if you're talking about water, but if you're talking about marijuana, that is a hefty amount of marijuana.”
The amendment also addresses who is allowed to sell recreational marijuana. Medical marijuana treatment centers and other state-licensed facilities are allowed to cultivate and distribute the product.
“So it's not like as soon as it's legalized, your street dealer is able to sell you something legally,” Lebron said. "That's not how it would work.”
What does Amendment 3 need to pass?
Like all the other amendments, Amendment 3 needs 60% of the vote to pass for recreational marijuana to be available in the state.
“That would be the super majority, and that's a pretty high bar to reach when you consider how other states have voted on this issue,” Lebron said.
“It's usually been around 58% from the other states that have passed recreational marijuana. That's a pretty high mark, but it still wouldn't be enough to pass that 60% threshold.”
The potential financial impact
The amendment’s financial impact statement claims that legalizing weed recreationally would bring an estimated $200 million in state and local taxes.
“It’s obvious that making weed recreational across the state is going to infuse the state with at least some dollars," Lebron said. "It's hard to figure out that exact amount of how it's going to help, because there's a ramp-up cost, where you have to get the ball moving, you have to set regulations. All of those things cost money. So that might offset some of that initial benefit.”
Lebron cited a recent study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City that showed that post-legalization in other states, state income increased by about 3% and the housing prices of states that weren't recreational went up by about 6%.
Pushback against Amendment 3
Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a brief last year urging the Florida Supreme Court to reject Amendment 3, arguing the ballot summary would be “misleading to voters in several key respects.”
Ultimately, she lost that challenge, and the Florida Supreme Court said the ballot language is valid.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, Lebron said, has made the amendment a major talking point, citing the smell of marijuana and how all the streets are going to smell.
“Many people who travel to states that have recreational marijuana, it's a fact that not every single street smells like weed,” Lebron said.
“It's also dependent on where people are allowed to smoke that weed, and that'll be up to the Florida Legislature to regulate. We've seen the same thing for smoking cigarettes, and it's safe to say that we're going to see something similar for marijuana.”
The Florida Sheriffs Association said the legislation brings "public health issues" and "road safety concerns” and the Florida Police Chiefs Association has also announced its opposition, saying legalizing recreational marijuana opens the door for more crime, homelessness and traffic deaths.
Is the amendment retroactive?
“People who were previously arrested for marijuana possession charges won't magically get out of jail all of a sudden,” Lebron said. “It'll definitely mean less arrests overall for possession of small amounts of marijuana.”
Thousands of Floridians each year get arrested on marijuana charges despite some municipalities decriminalizing possession of small amounts of the drug. Legalizing Amendment 3 would likely lead to far fewer arrests.
“If passed, this will impact minorities even more,” Lebron said. “There's been a ton of studies that show that people of color are far more likely to be arrested for possession of pot than white counterparts.”
What happens next if Amendment 3 passes?
“The first thing it's going to see is going to be some pushback from the legislature, and potentially some more legal challenges,” Lebron said. “Even when medical marijuana was passed in 2016 in the state, it still took about two years for things to be implemented across Florida.”
Legislators will be tasked with regulating the recreation marijuana industry — a process that can take years to play out.
Adding to that, marijuana is still illegal at the federal level.
