Abortion, Recreational Weed Will Be on Florida's November 2024 Ballot

Update published 4/1/2024: The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that ballot initiatives to protect abortion rights and legalize recreational marijuana meet the requirements to be on the 2024 general election ballot.

In light of the rulings, Floridians in November will have a chance to cement abortion rights and marijuana legalization into the Florida Constitution if the measures are approved by a 60 percent supermajority of voters.

In both court cases, a majority of the seven-member panel of justices ruled that the items satisfy rules requiring that ballot initiatives tackle a single subject and are clear and unambiguous to voters.

The Florida Supreme Court also handed down a ruling today that found that the Florida Constitution's privacy protections do not extend to abortion. Though the justices were considering a case involving the state's 15-week abortion ban, the ruling in effect clears the way for Florida's six-week abortion ban to go into effect.

Voters will have a chance to void the abortion restrictions with a vote on the ballot initiative come November.

The original story follows below.

The Florida Supreme Court is expected to release its rulings today on whether to allow two critical voter initiatives on the ballot for the November election: one that would legalize recreational marijuana under Florida law and another that would establish Roe v. Wade-style abortion rights in the state.

The legal deadline to rule on challenges to the ballot items is April 1, and the state's high court indicated it will release its decisions at 4 p.m.

The abortion measure seeks to block the State of Florida from prohibiting abortion before viability, the point when a fetus can live outside of the womb. It would also bar restrictions on abortions necessary to protect a patient's health.

The cannabis measure would make it legal in Florida to possess up to three ounces of marijuana and five grams of cannabis concentrate.

If the Florida Supreme Court allows the measures onto the ballot, they both would require 60 percent voter approval to pass. The initiatives' sponsors have already gathered far more than the approximately 891,000 petition signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's office has urged the court to strike down both items.

Among other arguments, the attorney general's office claims the abortion ballot item fails to clearly define the terms fetal "viability" and "healthcare," leading to potential confusion among voters.

Floridians Protecting Freedom, the item sponsor, has countered that the ballot language contains "well-understood, commonly accepted" terminology and that the state is using strained semantics in its attempt to strike down the measure.

While the attorney general's office argues the marijuana ballot item will mislead voters about cannabis remaining illegal under federal law, the sponsor, Smart & Safe Florida, contends that "it strains credulity well past the breaking point to think that the average voter is unaware that marijuana is illegal at the federal level."

The marijuana initiative was bankrolled almost entirely by Trulieve, the state's largest medical marijuana supplier.

The initiatives are expected to be strong drivers of Democratic voter turnout if they make it onto the ballot.

Melba Pearson, a civil rights and criminal law attorney who works at Florida International University's Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy, called attempts to stamp out the marijuana initiative "another form of voter suppression." She previously told New Times that since 2018, when Floridians voted in favor of restoring voting rights to people who completed their felony sentences, there has been a concerted effort to quash ballot initiatives in Florida.

"It's disingenuous because voters are the ones who should be deciding these types of issues. That's why we have the mechanism to have a ballot initiative," Pearson said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates and coverage of the Florida Supreme Court's rulings.