Florida Amendment 3 is projected to fail, with 56.9% voting yes. The Amendment was sponsored by the state-registered political committee Smart & Safe Florida.
The Amendment needed 60% of Florida voters to be approved and would have taken effect six months after being passed.
The amendment would have allowed adults 21 years or older to buy and use marijuana products for recreational use, such as smoking and ingestion. It would have also allowed only medical marijuana treatment centers to gather, manufacture and sell marijuana products and accessories – meaning Floridians cannot just start growing marijuana.
Floridians would have been allowed to possess up to 3 ounces of marijuana and 5 grams of marijuana in concentrate form for recreational use.
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According to Smart & Safe Florida, Amendment 3 would have ensured public spaces will stay smoke-free, laws put in place to prevent smoking in undesignated areas and allow no smoking rules to be enforced and established.
Dr. Jessica Spencer, with the Vote No on 3 Campaign, credited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for helping Amendment 3 be rejected.
"We are grateful for the unbending support of the Governor and First Lady of Florida, whose conviction, courage, and fearlessness... was unwavering," Spencer said in a statement.
Smart & Safe Florida said it will continue to work with Gov. DeSantis and other lawmakers to address marijuana concerns in the state.
"While the results of Amendment 3 did not clear the 60 percent threshold, we are eager to work with the governor and legislative leaders who agree with us on decriminalizing recreational marijuana for adults, addressing public consumption, continuing our focus on child safety, and expanding access to safe marijuana through home grow," Smart & Safe Florida said in a statement.
This was the language that voters saw on their ballots for Amendment 3:
Allows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise; allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, and other state licensed entities, to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories. Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. Establishes possession limits for personal use. Allows consistent legislation. Defines terms. Provides effective date.
In the 2016 General Election, Amendment 2 was passed by 71.3% of Florida voters to legalize full-strength medical marijuana for qualified patients with conditions such as HIV, PTSD, ALS and other medical conditions. Three years later, the Florida legislature allowed smokeable forms of medical marijuana along with THC vaping under the program.
Before 2016, low-THC strains of marijuana were only allowed for patients with terminal conditions.
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