Florida Attorney General Withdraws Supreme Court Marijuana Review Request After State Says Campaign Fell Short On Signatures

February 4, 2026

Florida marijuana legalization ballot drama just took another sharp turn, the kind that leaves a bitter aftertaste. The attorney general yanked his request for a Florida Supreme Court review after election officials said the campaign came up short on signatures—783,592 validated versus the 880,062 required. The campaign behind the measure, Smart & Safe Florida, says that count is wrong, that it hauled in more than 1.4 million signed petitions, and that the state’s math—and its methods—don’t pass the smell test. So they’re asking the justices not to slam the door, arguing jurisdiction doesn’t vanish just because one office says the numbers don’t add up. On paper, the courtroom calendar had an oral argument pegged for early February. In reality, the fight’s now about who gets to decide if Floridians can even vote on adult-use cannabis in 2026—and whether the courts will look under the hood before the engine cools. If you want to see the bureaucracy’s pulse, the filing is sitting in the state’s docket system, a breadcrumb in a maze: Florida Supreme Court docket.

The tug-of-war: law, math, and a stopwatch

The campaign’s theory is simple, blunt, and very Florida: tens of thousands of signatures should never have been tossed, and if those contested petitions are restored—up to 98,000 by their count—the threshold is met. They’ve fired off public records requests to all 67 county supervisors to reconcile what was verified, what was set aside, and what should have been counted in the first place. And they’re telling the justices that a statute letting the attorney general withdraw a review shouldn’t hand the secretary of state a veto over the people’s initiative power. A court, they argue, shouldn’t lose its flashlight just when the lights flicker. The larger point is more human than legalistic: more than a million Floridians took the time to sign something. Throwing it all out at the one-yard line isn’t just a technical matter; it’s a civic gut punch. If the justices wait until after the dust settles in the lower courts, there may not be enough runway left for a timely advisory opinion—meaning the game ends before the whistle ever blows.

By the numbers, and the grind behind them

Required statewide valid signatures to qualify: 880,062.
Validated signatures cited by the state so far: 783,592.
Signatures the campaign says were improperly invalidated and could be restored: up to 98,000.
Earlier invalidations in the cycle: roughly 200,000 petitions tossed over formatting and text-attachment issues.
Additional cuts the campaign challenges: about 42,000 from “inactive” voters; roughly 29,000 gathered by out-of-state petitioners.
Other statewide initiatives that reportedly missed the mark this go-round: 21.
Passing threshold for a constitutional amendment if it reaches the ballot: 60 percent.

That’s the ledger. The subtext is messier. Business interests with deep pockets have lined up against adult-use, arguing the measure is sloppily drawn and dangerously broad, while state investigators opened probes into alleged petition fraud and fired off subpoenas to campaigns and contractors. The previous adult-use attempt earned a majority in 2024 but stalled out under the 60 percent rule—close enough to taste, not close enough to swallow. Meanwhile, lawmakers are tinkering around the edges: lowering costs for veterans in the medical program, floating bans on public smoking and vaping, and debating whether to expand patient access. The political message from the governor’s mansion has been consistent: keep marijuana out of the Constitution, take your chances in the legislature. But polls keep repeating the same refrain—bipartisan majorities support legalization, and an even bigger majority thinks voters should be allowed to decide. The question is whether procedural tripwires will let them.

Florida in a wider map

While Florida fights over clipboards and commas, other states are moving—some by inches, some by miles. Voters and lawmakers elsewhere are rewriting the rules in public. Washington’s Senate has nodded toward personal cultivation with Washington State Senators Approve Bill To Legalize Marijuana Home Grow For Adults, a modest but meaningful swing at normalizing adult-use. In the Midwest, reversals and reconsiderations are a live sport: Ohio Attorney General Approves Referendum To Reverse Marijuana And Hemp Restrictions, underscoring how quickly cannabis policy can bend back on itself when politics and public appetite collide. Pennsylvania’s executive branch is pushing its legislature to get off the fence with Pennsylvania Governor Pushes Lawmakers To Legalize Marijuana, Saying ‘Softening’ Of Federal Policy Under Trump Clears The Way. Even states with tightly controlled medical frameworks are reshuffling leadership and rulesets, as seen in Nebraska Governor Accepts Applications For Medical Cannabis Commission Opening Following Chair’s Resignation. The map is a living thing, not a final draft, and that’s the backdrop for Florida’s courtroom chess: a national tide tugging at a state still arguing over who gets to open the floodgate.

So what happens next? The Supreme Court could dismiss the review and scrub the hearing, leaving the campaign to wage its county-by-county, courtroom-by-courtroom war over every invalidated John Hancock. Or the justices could keep jurisdiction on ice, anticipating that restored signatures would force a sprint to an advisory opinion before deadlines calcify. The campaign says more legal action is coming; public records requests are already in the pipe. If the initiative does clear the gate, the political fight pivots immediately to substance—what adult-use means for public consumption rules, for the medical market, for local control, and for a Florida cannabis market that already hums beneath the surface. If it doesn’t, expect louder calls to address marijuana policy reform through the legislature, or to try again with a leaner petition machine. Either way, the story ends the way most Florida stories do: with a split between those who want change and those who want control, and a clock that never stops ticking—if you’re ready to follow the next chapter and explore compliant options, take a look at our shop here: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.