Florida’s Adult-Use Marijuana Amendment Fails to Clear 60% Threshold
Florida voters rejected Amendment 3 on Nov. 5, 2024, blocking a proposed change to the state constitution that would have legalized adult-use marijuana for people 21 and older. With most votes counted on election night, the measure drew majority support but fell short of Florida’s 60% supermajority requirement for constitutional amendments—an unusually high bar that has shaped the fate of major ballot questions for years.
What Amendment 3 would have done
Amendment 3—titled “Adult Personal Use of Marijuana”—would have allowed adults 21+ to possess, purchase, and use marijuana for non-medical purposes under Florida law, while leaving federal law unchanged. The proposal also tied initial legal sales to the state’s existing Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs), meaning licensed medical operators would have been first in line to serve an adult-use market if the amendment had passed.
Why it failed even with more “yes” than “no”
By late Tuesday evening, statewide reporting showed support hovering around 56%—strong by typical ballot-measure standards, but not enough to clear the 60% threshold. The result meant adult-use marijuana remained illegal in Florida outside the medical program approved by voters in 2016.
The defeat also underscored how Florida’s supermajority rule can turn a clear plurality into a loss, particularly for high-profile culture-war questions. In coverage of election night outcomes, media outlets noted that both marijuana legalization and another major amendment on the ballot won majority backing but still failed because they didn’t hit 60%.
A record-priced campaign—and a loud backlash
Amendment 3 was backed by Smart & Safe Florida, a political committee that drew significant financial support from the state’s medical marijuana industry. In the final stretch of the campaign, Trulieve—one of Florida’s largest medical cannabis companies—poured tens of millions more into the effort, pushing its total contributions (cash and in-kind) into the hundreds of millions, according to reporting that cited state campaign finance records.
Opposition, led prominently by Gov. Ron DeSantis and allies, sharpened in the weeks before Election Day, with public events and messaging that framed the amendment as a benefit to large cannabis operators and raised concerns about commercialization and public health. Public media reporting documented the administration’s ramp-up against the measure as polling tightened.
What happens next
In the near term, Florida’s legal marijuana market remains limited to medical patients, regulated through the state’s existing framework. The broader adult-use question, however, is not necessarily settled: the Smart & Safe Florida campaign has continued to pursue pathways for a future ballot, even as Florida lawmakers have debated and enacted changes that make citizen-led initiatives tougher to qualify.