Florida GOP Lawmaker Files Bill To Ban Public Marijuana Smoking As Campaign Works To Put Legalization On 2026 Ballot

Florida public marijuana smoking ban isn’t a whisper anymore—it’s a headline, a challenge coin slid across the bar by Rep. Alex Andrade (R), a pro-legalization Republican who says cannabis doesn’t belong on the federal Controlled Substances Act and sports an A on NORML’s report card. His new bill would fold marijuana into Florida’s public tobacco rules, making it illegal to smoke or vape in any public space. That space is defined as just about everywhere you’ve ever waited, walked, or worried: streets and sidewalks, parks and beaches, the common areas of schools, hospitals, government buildings, apartment complexes, offices, hotels, restaurants, transit hubs, and retail. Even the lobby smells like policy now. There’s one curious flourish—an exemption for unfiltered cigars, the old Florida handshake between heritage and habit. If you want to read the nuts and bolts, the state’s bill page lays it out plainly: HB language and status. The move feels less like a crackdown and more like pre-game field lining: set the boundaries before the first pitch, keep the bleachers calm.

Line-drawing before the smoke clears

Why would a lawmaker who backs marijuana policy reform push a public consumption ban? Because optics matter. In Florida, the naysayers love the “Wild West” caricature—billowing clouds on beaches and toddlers dodging skunky plumes outside diners. Andrade’s play undercuts that storyline. He’s argued that Republicans should be straight with younger voters who view cannabis as normal medicine or a manageable vice—treat it like the product it is, not a monster under the bed. He even carried a bill last session to waive medical cannabis ID fees for veterans; it sailed through the House but died in the Senate. The broader fight is cultural as much as legal. Policymakers are hyperfocused on guardrails, youth exposure, and branding—battles that flare across the hemp THC world too, as seen when a beer trade group blasted bad actors for pitching candy-colored gummies to kids. For that chapter, see Beer Industry Trade Group Calls Out Hemp THC Sector’s ‘Bad Actors’ For Allegedly Marketing To Children. The subtext: if legalization comes, public use won’t.

The ballot brawl

All of this unspools against a crowded backdrop: the Smart & Safe Florida campaign pushing adult-use legalization for the 2026 ballot. The group says the state is dragging its feet on required fiscal and judicial review even after blowing past the trigger threshold: more than 662,000 signatures verified, roughly triple the 220,016 needed to prompt that review. The official initiative listing sits here if you want to trace the breadcrumb trail: state initiative detail. There’s parallel litigation over whether about 200,000 signatures can be tossed because some petitions allegedly lacked the full text, and a federal court already cut through a different thicket—blocking new restrictions on out-of-state signature gatherers. The campaign’s revised language even goes out of its way to say public smoking and vaping are prohibited. Translation: the ballot doesn’t want a whiff of “anything goes.” Meanwhile, federal winds are shifting, and Congress is toying with hemp THC limits that could ripple into local markets—context worth digesting in Congressional Deal Would Ban Many Hemp THC Products, While Excluding Provisions To Let VA Doctors Recommend Medical Marijuana.

• Verified signatures reported by organizers: 662,543.
• Threshold to trigger fiscal/judicial review: 220,016.
• Key dispute: roughly 200,000 signatures at risk over petition text format.
• Procedural win: federal court relief from restrictions on signature gatherers.
• New initiative text: explicit ban on public smoking and vaping; legislature to regulate time, place, and manner of public consumption.

Poll smoke and political mirrors

Polls paint a split-screen: one survey pegged support for legalization at about 67 percent statewide, comfortably past the 60 percent supermajority Florida demands for constitutional amendments; another, from business interests opposed to legalization, found support near 53 percent; a GOP-only sample hovered around 40 percent. Governor Ron DeSantis insists the latest measure is “in big trouble” at the state Supreme Court and shouldn’t be etched into the Constitution at all—if you want it, elect lawmakers to do it. Inside the same party, you had a senator claiming Trump was misled about the 2024 language even as the former president once called the measure “very good” after huddling with industry and friendly Republicans. Nationally, the ground keeps moving: sentencing rules around drug sales have been revised, a sign the federal center of gravity is wobbling away from the old playbook—see Federal Officials Revise Sentencing Guidelines For Drug Selling Convictions. On the home front, Florida’s health department is actively yanking medical marijuana registrations for patients and caregivers with drug convictions under a budget directive—proof that policy, in the end, is personal.

What the street actually smells like

Here’s the practical truth, stripped of talking points: almost every legal state bans public consumption. Sidewalks aren’t smoking lounges; parks aren’t dispensaries. Florida’s move to canonize that early is less culture war and more crowd control, a nod to neighbors who just want their morning air unspiced. The unfiltered-cigar exemption is pure Florida—heritage draped in smoke rings—while hemp sits off to the side, muddled by definitions that keep shifting underfoot. If we want fewer headaches and fewer court dates, clarity is king; that argument sings in Hemp Needs What Alcohol Already Has: A Clear Definition (Op-Ed). The state will keep drawing lines—on ballots, in courthouses, at the edge of the boardwalk. Our job is to read them, follow them, and push for better ones where they’re crooked. And if you’re looking to stay compliant while exploring the hemp side of the spectrum, take a look at our shop: https://thcaorder.com/shop/.