Janelle Irwin Taylor
In last ditch effort to reach a daunting petition signature goal, the group Make It Legal Florida raised more than $4.8 million in December.
The group is spending heavily on a petition drive to put a constitutional amendment on the 2020 ballot to legalize cannabis for adult use regardless of medical necessity.
The group must collect 766,200 signatures by Feb. 1. As of Monday morning, the group had tallied just 294,403 signatures. They’re less than half way to the mandatory signature threshold and have less than a month to bridge the gap.
Of the $4.8 million raised in December, the group spent more than $4 million. They closed out 2019 with more than $8.6 million raised and of that, have spent more than $7.7 million.
Almost all of the group’s December contributions came from medical cannabis companies Surterra Holdings, doing business as Parallel, and MedMen Enterprises.
Surterra contributed $3.54 million while MedMen donated $1.31 million.
The two companies have almost exclusively funded the adult-use cannabis push.
Almost all of Make It Legal Florida’s expenditures have gone to petition gathering, which pays individuals to collect signatures at public places, direct mail to encourage voters to sign the ballot petition and postage for that mail.
Other expenses include consulting, social media, legal services and petition verification. Local supervisors of election must verify petition signatures are valid before they can be counted.
Make It Legal Florida is challenging the state’s petition signature process in Leon County Circuit Court arguing restrictions placed on paid signature gatherers last year they say makes the process onerous.
However, other groups have successfully reached the petition signature threshold including for a $15 minimum wage, to change primary elections, and assess language in the constitution regarding what a citizen is.
The group faces another hurdle if it does collect the signatures needed to make the ballot. The Florida Attorney General’s office would also have to review and approve the ballot language.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jeff Brandes filed legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis similar to the Make It Legal proposal. That bill serves as a legislative alternative to the ballot initiative.
