Florida Cannabis Legalization Initiative Fails to Qualify for 2026 Ballot

LOS ANGELES – Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd announced that the Smart & Safe Florida campaign failed to submit the required number of valid signatures to qualify its proposed constitutional amendment for the ballot. The initiative needed 880,062 verified signatures from registered voters to advance. State records showed approximately 783,592 valid signatures, falling well below the threshold after the February 1 deadline passed.

The campaign, which sought to allow adults 21-plus to possess, purchase and use Cannabis for non-medical purposes while maintaining restrictions on public use, driving under the influence and marketing to children, submitted more than 1.4 million signatures overall. However, a substantial portion were invalidated under state rules and court rulings. These included disqualifications tied to petitions collected by non-residents or non-citizens, signatures from voters listed as inactive, and other compliance issues stemming from changes to Florida’s ballot initiative laws enacted in 2025.

A key setback came in January 2026 when Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal upheld the state’s decision to reject more than 70,000 signatures, citing directives from the secretary of state.  Additional rejections, totaling around 270,000 petitions according to campaign claims, were attributed to factors such as strict deadlines for petition returns and requirements for including the full amendment text on forms.

Smart & Safe Florida described the state’s announcement as premature, arguing that not all county-level validations had been finalized and that a complete count could still meet the requirement. The group has not indicated immediate next steps.

This outcome follows the 2024 defeat of Amendment 3, a similar recreational Cannabis measure that received 56% voter approval but failed to reach the 60% supermajority required for constitutional changes in Florida. The back-to-back setbacks highlight the challenges of citizen-led initiatives in the state, where legislative resistance and administrative hurdles have persisted despite majority public support for reform in prior polls and votes.

Florida maintains a medical Cannabis program approved by voters in 2016, but adult-use legalization remains unavailable through either legislative or ballot paths for now. As the Cannabis sector continues to expand in neighboring states, the Florida experience underscores the procedural barriers that can stall direct democracy efforts on this issue.