9 In 10 Florida Voters Say They Should Get To Decide On Marijuana Legalization, Trump-Affiliated Pollster Finds
Florida marijuana legalization is back under the neon glare, and voters want the keys to the car. A new poll from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates—commissioned by the Safe & Smart Florida campaign—says 89 percent of likely 2026 Florida voters believe they should decide whether to legalize adult-use cannabis. That’s not a squeak; that’s a stadium roar crossing party lines—Democrats, independents, even a strong majority of Republicans. And 92 percent say voters, not politicians, should call the shots on constitutional amendments. In the humid theater of Florida politics, where rules change like afternoon storm clouds, this is a simple demand: let the people vote. Call it cannabis policy reform, call it voter rights—either way, the Florida cannabis market is itching for clarity.
But don’t mistake process for persuasion. The survey—800 likely voters, interviewed November 2–4—didn’t ask if respondents personally support legalization; it measured ownership, not outcome. Meanwhile, Safe & Smart Florida is suing the state for stalling a required review, even after 662,543 signatures were verified—triple the threshold to trigger that review—without so much as a polite nod from the powers that be. The campaign says another legal knife fight is brewing over roughly 200,000 signatures that officials want tossed because petitions didn’t include the full text of the measure. This isn’t their first rodeo, either: in 2024, legalization won a majority but fell short of the high-wire 60 percent needed to rewrite Florida’s Constitution. The revised 2026 initiative tries to meet critics where they stand, expressly banning smoking and vaping in public and leaving time, place, and manner rules for the legislature. A GOP-backed bill seeks to codify that public-use prohibition anyway—belt, suspenders, and a safety net—because in Florida, regulation arrives in layers.
The governor has already cast his verdict in the court of TV soundbites: keep it out of the Constitution, and expect “big time trouble” at the state Supreme Court. Yet the terrain shifts underfoot. In August, a federal judge granted the campaign sweeping relief from a new state law that would have slammed the brakes on signature gathering—limits on who could collect, who could participate, who could help. Even as the legal chess match grinds on, there’s a rougher subplot: allegations that Medicaid dollars were funneled, via charitable detours and political nonprofits, into an anti-legalization push. The sums are eye-watering, the accountability murky, the optics worse. If you want to understand how cannabis taxation, legal cannabis revenue, and public health policy mix in the Sunshine State, picture a crowded kitchen at midnight—everyone reaching for the same pan, no one admitting they turned up the heat.
Zoom out and the movement looks less like a culture war and more like a slow, bureaucratic ceasefire. Republicans—from county chairs to Capitol Hill—are increasingly leaning into states’ rights, banking access, even rescheduling, if it means stabilizing a market voters keep demanding. On that front, the mood music changed when a conservative heavyweight broke ranks in Washington; for a taste of that reorientation, consider Ted Cruz Explains His Vote To Keep Hemp THC Products Federally Legal In Historic First Senate Roll Call On Cannabis. Back home, patchwork enforcement remains the national sport: one state writes a compliance manual, another writes a summons. Just ask the folks following the latest rules in Texas Officials Post Hemp Law ‘Checklist’ List To Help Businesses Comply With State Cannabis Rules. And the federal government still finds new ways to trip over its own feet—veterans can tell you what it means when lawmakers punt on common sense, as in Congress Abandons Effort To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana On Veterans Day. The message is relentless: voters move forward, institutions stall, and the market improvises.
If Florida does cross the 60-percent Rubicon in 2026, the economic beat drops fast. Legal cannabis revenue would pour into one of the country’s most complex tourism and hospitality ecosystems, which is to say: it’ll be messy, lucrative, and heavily regulated. The revised measure’s nods to public consumption and legislative rulemaking are a prelude to the real show—licensing, local control, zoning, testing, labor, and a compliance labyrinth that favors deep pockets unless lawmakers take care. Just look at the hard-won progress—and bruises—from the heartland’s experiment with small operators in Missouri Marijuana Microbusinesses Begin First Crop Harvests Amid Struggle To Succeed. Florida can learn from those first harvests: build pathways for microbusinesses, enforce clean rules, and keep the medicine cabinet away from culture-war theatrics. In a state where policy is often a contact sport, the simplest truth still rings: let people vote, honor the results, and regulate with a steady hand. When you’re ready to explore premium THCA options with the same care for quality and clarity, step into our shop: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.
