In less than a decade, nearly half the United States — 24 states plus Washington, D.C., and Guam — has opted to approve adult recreational use of marijuana. More than a dozen other states, including Florida, have medical cannabis programs or have decriminalized weed, while only four states — South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming and Idaho — maintain a fully illegal stance toward marijuana.
In the November 2023 elections, Ohio — which, like Florida, is a former swing state turned red — became the latest state to approve recreational cannabis use and thus welcome a new multibillion industry, not to mention the prodigious amount of tax revenue that it brings. Is that a sign of things to come in the Sunshine State?
A measure that would put a proposed recreational cannabis amendment on the 2024 general election ballot has garnered enough signatures to move forward and is currently being reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court, which is expected to rule on it by April 1.