In 2014, Amendment 2 which would have broadly legalized medical marijuana failed to obtain 60% of the votes necessary to pass.
The groups behind Amendment 2 have been working to add a similar ballot measure to the 2016 ballot. According to United For Care, approximately 360,000 petition signatures have been validated by the State of Florida and another approximately 325,000 valid petition signatures need to be collected and submitted to the State of Florida before the February 1, 2016 deadline.
However, recently Florida's Attorney General Pamela Bondi put out a statement that, unlike the 2014 effort, her office would not file a legal challenge to the proposed 2016 amendment.
Meanwhile, very slowly, medical marijuana pursuant to Florida's 2014 Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act is one step closer to actually reaching patients. Florida's Department of Health recently approved five nurseries that will be allowed to grow medical marijuana under the 2014 law. The 2014 law is much narrower than the proposed ballot amendment, the 2014 law only permits medicinal use of strain of marijuana that is low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabidiol, or CBD.
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