rewrite this title and make it good for SEOFlorida marijuana legalization campaign sues state officials – again

Florida elections officials are refusing their “indisputable … mandatory and ministerial” responsibilities to thwart a marijuana legalization campaign.

That’s according to a lawsuit filed Oct. 30 in state Supreme Court by Smart & Safe Florida, the marijuana multistate operator-backed effort to put adult-use cannabis legalization on the 2026 ballot.

Legalization backers must collect 880,062 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the November 2026 ballot.

But before that, once the campaign gathers 25% of the required signatures, the Florida secretary of state is required to send a letter confirming that fact and trigger a state Supreme Court review of the voter initiative.

And it’s that “mandatory ministerial duty” that Secretary of State Cord Byrd is refusing to fulfill, Smart & Safe’s lawsuit alleges.

Florida government officials accused of undermining marijuana legalization – again

The suit names Byrd and Elections Division Director Maria Matthews as defendants.

It seeks a court order compelling state officials to process the voter initiative as required.

“It is nonsensical, and contrary to the express constitutional and statutory mandates, to allow the Secretary and Director to indefinitely refuse to issue the (letter) and frustrate the constitutional order,” the suit alleges in part.

Smart & Safe submitted the requisite number of signatures to trigger the letter and review process in June.

It sent its own letter in August to elections officials, asking why the process had been held up, but received no reply, the suit alleges.

It’s the second lawsuit filed by the Smart & Safe Florida campaign against the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state’s Republican governor and an avowed foe of cannabis legalization.

A second, separate suit filed earlier in October accuses the state Division of Elections of unlawfully instructing county elections officials to invalidate as many as 200,000 signatures over a technicality.

Trulieve Cannabis bets heavily on Florida marijuana legalization – again

Smart & Safe Florida was the sponsor of the 2024 marijuana legalization campaign that failed after spending nearly $150 million, most of that contributed by Tallahassee-based multistate operator Trulieve Cannabis.

Trulieve is the lead sponsor of the current effort, with more than $25.8 million contributed to date, according to campaign finance records.

Trulieve is by far the biggest MMJ operator in the state with 162 locations, according to state data.

Total annual sales could exceed $1.8 billion this year, according to an MJBiz Factbook projection.