The Florida Supreme Court Won't Let Voters Legalize Recreational Marijuana
Source: Slate
On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Courtprobably the most conservative state high court in the countryconcluded that the states voters could not be trusted with a ballot initiative that would legalize recreational marijuana for adults. By a 52 vote, the court tossed out the initiative, denying Florida residents the opportunity to vote on it. To justify its action, the majority seized upon a dubious rationale: It asserted that the ballot summary implies that the initiative will somehow legalize marijuana under federal law, rendering it affirmatively misleading. Because of this putative defect, the court denied Floridians an opportunity to repeal state laws banning recreational weed.
The campaign to liberalize Floridas marijuana laws has long pitted the people against state officials. For years, the Republicans in the state legislature and governors mansion refused to expand access to cannabis. In 2016, Floridians took the matter into their own hands, legalizing medical marijuana through a ballot initiative amending the state constitution that passed with more than 71 percent of the vote. Former Republican Gov. Rick Scott, abetted by GOP state legislators, attempted to gut this new law by strictly limiting qualifying conditions for the drug and banning smokable marijuana. A court blocked that ban, and the legislature eventually repealed it.
Seizing this momentum, cannabis reform advocates launched a new ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana for all adults over the age of 21. As of Thursday, the initiatives sponsor had raised $8.2 million and collected more than 556,000 signatures out of the 891,589 needed to get on the ballot in 2022. Its strong support at this early date indicated a real possibility that the initiative would cross the 60 percent threshold necessary to amend the state constitution. But as its proponents were collecting signatures, Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican, asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on the measures legality. Specifically, Moody asked if the language of the summary that would appear on ballots in 2022 was misleading.
In an unsigned opinion, a majority of the court held that the language was misleading, killing the entire initiative. The court took issue with a single word: permits. It noted that the ballot summary says the measure permits adults over 21 to buy, use, and possess marijuana for recreational purposes. But, the court pointed out, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. The summarys unqualified use of the word permits strongly suggests that the conduct to be authorized by the amendment will be free of any criminal or civil penalty in Florida, the majority held. Yet a constitutional amendment cannot unequivocally permit or authorize conduct that is criminalized under federal law. And a ballot summary suggesting otherwise is affirmatively misleading.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/the-florida-supreme-court-won-t-let-voters-legalize-recreational-marijuana/ar-BB1fWDez?li=BB141NW3&ocid=DELLDHP
d_r
(6,907 posts)Disney world tourists. Disneyland fantasyland smelled like amsterdam the last time I was out there.
RocRizzo55
(980 posts)What with COVID, coffee shops are closed, along with theaters, museums, sports halls, and other non essential businesses. If you want to buy a coat, or a wrench, for example, you have to make an appointment to shop, and you only have 30 minutes. A lot of stores are doing business over the Internet, allowing customers to pick up goods in stores. Restaurants are pretty much take out only, delivering yo your home. There is also a 9PM curfew. That is all going to change next week, when more things get opened up.
bahboo
(16,336 posts)you know you partake as do most of your um, friends no doubt. In fact, I bet a majority of repubs light up. This shit is outrageous...
catsudon
(839 posts)so let me convey my condolences to the people of Florida.
i have my card but soon enough people here don't need it. however, since DC accepts my card, i'm getting a jumpstart.
SergeStorms
(19,193 posts)the use and posession of marijuana, or at the very least get it removed as a schedule 1 drug on the federal books? :shrug. As long as it's still illegal on the federal books many, many people - including myself - won't be able to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. I go to a federally registered pain and symptom management clinic, where they prescribe Methadone for a back injury I had in 2002. That's 19 years of Methadone that I'd like to stop taking altogether, but know that wont be possible until there's something I can take to relieve the pain and anxiety I suffer. Until the government decriminalizes it the clinic will stop prescribing anything because I'd be breaking federal laws.
It seems everyone in the country can legally use marijuana except the people who actually need it the most.
PatrickforB
(14,570 posts)It helps. Not a panacea, but it helps.
The Florida (and the feds, for that matter) government is in the clutches of people who are bought and paid for by the prison industrial complex. Lots of green to be made in locking up black people, and cities all over have 80%+ agreements with these private prisons. They need cannabis to be illegal, because if it wasn't, their shareholders would not profit!
Profits are ALWAYS more important than people!
OldBaldy1701E
(5,113 posts)OrlandoDem2
(2,065 posts)This proves we need to beat him and it pisses me off that we were so close in 2018 but Democrats just couldnt make it out to vote in big enough numbers in SoFla.
Polybius
(15,381 posts)Florida is still mostly Red, we need some crossover votes.
certainot
(9,090 posts)all those unis are helping the republicans sell obstruction on reforms re drug war, racism, fossil fuels, voter suppression, etc. ----whatever pops up they a few hundred ignorant lying blowhards on 1500 coordinated radio stations to fight it off as designed by the rw and russian think tanks
from fakenewsradio.org FLORIDA 20 Florida 10, Florida St. 4 Miami 2, South Florida 2, Central Florida 2
flying_wahini
(6,589 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,125 posts)Earth-shine
(3,992 posts)And the prices at the dispensaries are okay.
In CA, after it became legal, prices went up considerably, largely due to taxation.
lark
(23,091 posts)Courts in this state are totally controlled by repugs so all that comes out of here is total crap. They stole the race from Nelson in 2018 at Scott's demand.
SCOTUS is also rw stacked, so they will not be ruling against rw authoritarian states. They only support the constitution when it's that or destroy the nation. They want to do it in small incognito steps so we don't know what's happening, they don't want the open civil war the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys do.
FakeNoose
(32,628 posts)I'm in a state that doesn't legally allow the sale of recreational marijuana however medical MJ can be purchased by Rx. We're probably still a few years away from having legal MJ here in PA. It seems that a private citizen can get away with growing their own as long as they are cool and smart about it, and don't start selling it to others of course. The trick is getting the seeds in order to grow your own, so I think I may have solved that problem. We'll see.
EarthFirst
(2,900 posts)So Im told... : :
Mysterian
(4,585 posts)Thay have bowed down to their master the evil fedrul gubmint.
Akoto
(4,266 posts)maliaSmith
(80 posts)Citizens have the right to get measures on the ballot. For a court to decide before signatures are even finished being collected that they don't agree to the measure is corrupt. Time to bring the federal courts into this mess. The court in Fl is taking away citizens rights. It's over reach by the court just like Fl legislature over reached when they decided to not honor the measure that gave felons back their right to vote. Fight back and get the federal court or US Justice dept involved. There's a new sheriff in town kiddos.
From a California voter.
GumboYaYa
(5,942 posts)I live in MO but IL has recreational. It is 15 minutes from my front door to the dispensary in IL. They are getting revenue that could go to MO.
tonekat
(1,813 posts)CT is dragging it's feet, losing tons of tax money (and boy, could CT use some tax money!) to Mass.