A multistate-operator–funded campaign to legalize adult-use marijuana in Florida has hit a serious roadblock after a state judge upheld the invalidation of more than 200,000 petition signatures. The ruling jeopardizes efforts to put a new recreational cannabis amendment on the 2026 ballot and gives Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s administration a major procedural win in its ongoing fight against legalization.
The campaign at the center of the dispute, Smart & Safe Florida, is heavily financed by leading medical marijuana multistate operator Trulieve, which has poured around $25.8 million into the effort to expand Florida’s cannabis market beyond medical use.
Background: From 2024’s Failed Amendment to a 2026 Reboot
In 2024, Florida Amendment 3 – an adult-use legalization measure also backed by existing medical cannabis companies – made it onto the statewide ballot and won about 56% of the vote. However, Florida requires a 60% supermajority for constitutional amendments, so the measure failed despite majority support.
Following that loss, Smart & Safe Florida pivoted toward a revised push for 2026, launching another petition drive to place an adult-use amendment before voters. To qualify, the campaign must secure roughly 880,000–891,000 valid signatures from registered voters by a February 1, 2026 deadline.
The Petition Form Fight: A Technicality With Huge Consequences
The latest setback arose from a dispute over petition format, not the content of the amendment itself.
In October, Florida’s Division of Elections issued a directive instructing county supervisors to reject petitions that did not use the exact state-prescribed form, including a blank back page and full text requirements. Smart & Safe Florida, however, circulated a version that was substantively identical on the front but included a link to the campaign’s website on the back instead of leaving it blank.
Gov. DeSantis’s administration argued this change made the petitions noncompliant, and therefore any signatures collected on those forms should be disqualified. Their position was that the law requires strict adherence to the Secretary of State’s prescribed form, and any deviation—no matter how small—is a “material change.” READ MORE: MJBizDaily
Smart & Safe Florida sued, claiming the state was effectively sabotaging the campaign with overly rigid rules designed to suppress a popular initiative.
Judge Cooper’s Ruling: “Unapproved Forms Cannot Be Counted”
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper sided with the state. In his ruling, he found that adding campaign text to the back of the petition constituted a material change to the approved form. Because of that, he held that election officials were within their rights to refuse to count signatures collected on those petitions.
Attorneys for the state emphasized a simple rule: if it’s not the prescribed form, the signature doesn’t count. Cooper agreed, effectively endorsing a strict compliance standard for initiative petitions.
The result: more than 200,000 signatures – roughly one-third of the 675,000+ signatures already collected – were invalidated.
Outcome: No Appeal, a Harder Path to the 2026 Ballot
Initially, Smart & Safe Florida signaled it would appeal the ruling. But within days, the campaign publicly confirmed it would not pursue an appeal, instead shifting its strategy to two tracks:
- Pressing state officials to tabulate tens of thousands of signatures that the campaign says were gathered on the correct, state-approved forms but have not yet been counted; and
- Scrambling to gather additional valid signatures before the February 1, 2026 deadline in order to reach the required threshold. READ MORE: Tallahassee.com
This decision not to appeal effectively cements Judge Cooper’s ruling as the controlling interpretation for this petition cycle. It also means Smart & Safe Florida must make up a large deficit in a relatively short time frame, under an increasingly restrictive petition environment. FOX 35 Orlando
Why This Matters: MSOs, DeSantis, and the Future of Legalization
This ruling is significant for several reasons:
- Multistate operator investment at risk: Trulieve and other MSOs backing the campaign stand to gain enormously from adult-use legalization, as it would allow them to leverage existing medical infrastructure into a much larger recreational market. The invalidation of 200,000 signatures threatens the return on those investments and may force even more spending on petition gathering and legal compliance.
- A major win for DeSantis’s administration: Gov. DeSantis and Florida’s Republican leadership have consistently opposed recreational cannabis and supported legal challenges to ballot efforts. This ruling validates a hard-line procedural approach that makes it more difficult for citizen-led initiatives—especially controversial ones—to qualify.
- Higher bar for future ballot measures: By affirming that even minor changes to petition forms can invalidate signatures, the ruling sets a precedent that other campaigns—on cannabis or unrelated issues—will have to navigate very carefully. Grassroots campaigns with fewer resources than MSO-backed groups may find this environment particularly challenging. READ MORE: The Marijuana Herald
Where Things Stand Now
As of late November 2025:
- Over 200,000 signatures remain invalidated under the court’s ruling.
- Smart & Safe Florida is not appealing the decision.
- The campaign must still reach a total of roughly 880,000+ valid signatures by February 1, 2026 to qualify its adult-use amendment for the ballot.
- The fight over uncounted but potentially valid signatures is ongoing, but even a favorable outcome there may not fully close the gap.
Meanwhile, Florida remains a medical-only cannabis state, with recreational use still illegal despite growing public support and the near-miss of Amendment 3 in 2024.
Whether the MSO-backed campaign can overcome this setback and get a legalization question in front of voters again in 2026 now depends on a race against time, a tighter regulatory environment, and the willingness of Florida voters to sign—again—for a change they’ve already shown they’re close to supporting.