Jacob Ogles
Florida voters could vote this November to legalize recreational marijuana. But does anyone face legal consequences for smoking pot now?
As Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigns against Amendment 3, he has repeatedly said no one goes to prison for simple possession.
“The number of people that are in prison in the state of Florida right now for either consuming or possessing personal amounts of marijuana is zero,” he told 92.5 Fox News in Fort Myers last month.
But like many issues around the enforcement of marijuana laws, the true details are somewhat cloudy.
According to the Department of Corrections, the Florida prison system currently detains 37 convicts in Florida state prisons whose primary offense was possession of marijuana. In all cases, those individuals were found guilty of having more than 20 grams of marijuana.
But officials say each of those individuals had their sentences enhanced either because they already had an extensive criminal record at the time of their arrest, or there were severe accompanying crimes like grand theft, battery, child abuse or possession of other illicit substances, according to the state.
“It is also important to note these individuals make up less than 0.05% of the total inmate population,” an email from the Department of Corrections reads. The Florida prison system incarcerates some 80,000 inmates, according to the agency’s website.
Advocates of legalizing marijuana say the number of arrests for possession only tells part of the story. Far more often, individuals get arrested for one crime and see sentences extended when coupled with marijuana charges. Other times, drug charges make it onto jail booking sheets but prosecutors negotiate those away as part of plea deals, ultimately leaving defendants facing harsher sentences as a result even if courts never adjudicate them guilty of possession.
“It’s also important not to conflate jail and prison,” said Morgan Hill, a spokesperson for the Smart & Safe Florida campaign behind Amendment 3. “Even if someone is arrested and held overnight, it still enters them into the criminal justice system. It makes it so there is a mark on their record. It makes it harder for them to enroll in higher education or to get a better job. This goes way beyond just the jail and prison sentence.”
And plenty of people still end up spending a night in jail and dealing with that mark, even if the threat of state prison time never arises. Under Florida law, even a misdemeanor drug offense can land an individual in county jail for up to 11 months and 29 days. And it’s no easy task tracking down just how many such 11/29ers may be detained at any given time.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, tracks arrests nationwide. Unquestionably, the group said thousands end up arrested on marijuana charges in Florida each year, though the advocacy group said Florida remains one of the hardest states in the U.S. to track down exact numbers.
“For many years, Florida was among the two or three states that failed to report annual marijuana arrest data to the FBI,” said Paul Armentano, Deputy Director of NORML. “For the handful of sporadic years they did provide data, marijuana-related arrests typically averaged around 40,000.”
More recently, he said officials offered wildly different data. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement in its FBI Uniform Crime Report said Florida law enforcement agencies arrested 2,349 individuals in 2022 for possession charges at some level. Yet the same year, prosecutors in Florida filed more than 16,000 charges against people for possession of small amounts of pot, according to reporting in July by the Tampa Bay Times.
Similarly, a Uniform Crime Report released for 2023 shows the state saw 3,675 marijuana-related arrests for 2023, a substantial increase from the 2,349 the prior year. But the Manhattan Institute’s Charles Lehman, in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed critical of Amendment 3, reported there were 7,349 such arrests in the state, unsourced but presumably not drawn from thin air.
For NORML, simply documenting the number of arrests statewide proves infuriating.
“As I’ve said on multiple occasions, regardless of where one falls on Amendment 3, it is absurd that Florida voters are being asked to vote on amending state marijuana policy without having accurate information regarding either the size, scope, or cost of the policy that they are being asked to decide upon,” Armentano said.
Still, the data showing the most aggressive arrest patterns suggests Florida enforces marijuana laws with less vigor than other states. Texas in 2023 reported more than 25,000 marijuana-related arrests in its FBI Uniform Crime Report data. Pennsylvania, a less populous state than Florida, reported more than 12,000 arrests.
Armentano, for his part, finds the reported data suspect. Florida reported 42,153 marijuana arrests in 2017, a 6% spike from the prior year. He said it is not believable arrests fell 83% over the six years since without any change in Florida’s criminal statutes about possession.
But for some advocates of Amendment 3, the low enforcement rate shows more reason why society would be better off if voters simply legalize cannabis. That includes Bradford Sheriff Gordon Smith, who endorsed Amendment 3 even as colleagues in the Florida Sheriffs Association took a stance against it.
As a young police officer, he arrested people on drug charges, including simple possession. Florida no longer incarcerates anyone for possession of less than 20 grams.
Smith notably opposed a medical marijuana measure passed by Florida voters in 2016, but has since seen the drug aid members of his own family. Moreover, in a state where medical marijuana dispensaries now legally operate from storefronts in every community, the portion of marijuana consumers partaking illegally is lower, and those breaking the law typically face only a citation.
“At one point, if we were told a mother or father was smoking dope, the state could take their children,” Smith said. “When we would arrest someone for misdemeanor marijuana, they could spend days or weeks in jail. Now, they are typically released on their own recognizance or with a civil penalty or fine.”
As of late September, the Bradford County Jail has nobody in custody on simple drug possession charges. But Smith echoed a concern that even when law enforcement doesn’t crack down on marijuana possession as aggressively as in the past, the worst consequences linger in the air.
”The real punishment is not the fine, where you get charged $250 in most cases,” he said. “The real issue is for that hard worker or college student, an otherwise law-abiding citizen, who gets popped with less than 20 grams. Suddenly when they are up for a promotion, they lose out on a good job. Or they get that college degree but can’t get a job in their chosen career because they have got that on their record. For most people, that’s the most serious thing they encounter, and it haunts them the rest of their life.”
But plenty of officials working in criminal justice say legalizing marijuana will have more serious consequences for society, compromising the abilities of law enforcement and prosecutors.
Jack Campbell, Florida’s 2nd Judicial Circuit State Attorney and President of the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, acknowledged that Florida imprisons fewer people than it once did for marijuana possession, and that anyone who faces such a sentence likely has an abnormal amount to see such a charge.
“However, while we are not sending folks to prison for simple MJ possession, there is a tremendous amount of crime that is secondary to MJ use, sale and possession,” he said in an email to Florida Politics. “Much like alcohol, impaired people kill and hurt each other at disproportionate rates whether you are talking about DUI manslaughter, sexual battery or armed robbery.”
DeSantis said Amendment 3 also reaches well beyond what most would consider small possession
Knowing that drug use can play a role in the commission of violent crimes, Campbell said prosecutors should retain the ability to hold criminals accountable for possession in those instances. Few State Attorneys, if any, want to expend resources on casual drug users, but the ability to press those charges still plays a critical role in delivering justice, Campbell said.
“Prosecutorial discretion is used to make our communities safer. Hence, if we have someone who is peaceful until they use a substance, be it alcohol, MJ, cocaine or meth, we are wanting to separate the offender from the substance that leads to their violence,” Campbell said.
“Legalization will allow greater use and accessibility by those who should not use it. Whether that is children or adults who behave badly while under its effects. It will also make it harder for law enforcement to establish impairment due to the way MJ is metastasized in humans. I anticipate a lot of people being hurt or killed by impaired drivers while we learn the sophistication we have developed with alcohol over the 100 years since prohibition.”
DeSantis suggested that allowing the legal sale of weed won’t stop the drug dealing trade. “Colorado, they have a bigger black market today than before they did the legalization,” he said. “Same with California. So that would absolutely be the case in the state of Florida.”
Smith feels skeptical. He feels certain drug dealers will continue to sell hard drugs, but doubts casual marijuana users will fuel the market.
“When retail marijuana was legalized in other states, we have seen teen use go down,” he said. “It’s not taboo. It’s not fun anymore. When I was a kid it was against the law, but that’s gone.”
And while he counts himself a bourbon man, he sees alcohol and prescription drugs, respectively, fueling more violent crimes and deaths. The Republican Sheriff said he trusts DeSantis, by his account the best Governor in state history, and a GOP-controlled Legislature to regulate the narcotic and educate children on the consequences of abuse.
But he feels law enforcement resources are better expended seeking those peddling opioids, some of which remain legal to produce and obtain originally from a pharmacy.
“Legalizing marijuana is better than a wide open market where dealers don’t give a damn who they sell to,“ he said. “It’s better to regulate so people know what they are buying.”
14 comments
Brian Kelly
October 3, 2024 at 10:33 am
Legalize federally now. What’s legal to possess and consume in over half of the populated areas of The United States should not make you a criminal in states still being governed by woefully ignorant prohibitionist politicians.
Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All-American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Legalize Nationwide Federally Now!
States “rights” has become just a clever excuse, disguise and blanket authority being used for a very small minority of irrational prohibitionists to be able to criminalize everything that they personally don’t morally approve of. Same with abortion and even books that they don’t morally approve of, and they have the nerve to call it states “rights”.
The only “right” states rights provide is the right of a very small minority to criminalize anything they don’t morally approve of in their individual home states. It needs to end now! It’s like having 50 different countries with different laws instead of a “United” States.
The “War on Cannabis” has been a complete and utter failure. It is the largest component of the broader yet equally unsuccessful “War on Drugs” that has cost our country over a trillion dollars.
Instead of The United States wasting Billions upon Billions more of our yearly tax dollars fighting a never ending “War on Cannabis”, lets generate Billions of dollars, and improve the deficit instead. Especially now, due to Covid-19. It’s a no brainer.
The Prohibition of Cannabis has also ruined the lives of many of our loved ones. In numbers greater than any other nation, our loved ones are being sent to jail and are being given permanent criminal records. Especially, if they happen to be of the “wrong” skin color or they happen to be from the “wrong” neighborhood. Which ruin their chances of employment for the rest of their lives, and for what reason?
Cannabis is much safer to consume than alcohol. Yet do we lock people up for choosing to drink?
Let’s end this hypocrisy now!
The government should never attempt to legislate morality by creating victim-less cannabis “crimes” because it simply does not work and costs the taxpayers a fortune.
Cannabis Legalization Nationwide is an inevitable reality that’s approaching much sooner than prohibitionists think and there is nothing they can do to stop it!
Legalize Nationwide Federally Now! Support Each and Every Cannabis Legalization Initiative!
Pol (itical) Pot
October 3, 2024 at 10:41 am
The simple fact is that Amendment Three is not needed. The legislature can decriminalize anything is wants to, and it has decriminalized simple possession. The pro-pot folks want Amendment Three because they don’t trust representative democracy, apparently because they can’t get their pro-pot followers to come out in enough numbers on election day to elect representatives who support it. There is no need for Amendment three.
The truth about Amendment Three is that it will put millions and millions of dollars–in fact, billions–into the pockets of a few business owners in Florida. That is why the owners of these businesses have spent more than $100 million dollars trying to convince voters to pass this amendment. They already are rich, and they will only get richer.
Cheesy Floridian
October 3, 2024 at 12:53 pm
It what ways has the gov. state or Federal made a solid case that we should trust them? We are being told by GOP that the gov. has been weaponized by the Democrats, we have DeSantis doing whatever he wants in the State of Florida with no check on his power. This is a chance for the PEOPLE of Florida to “speak” and really let the people who we elected into office to represent US not their self interests but US know how we feel about the issue. VOTE YES ON 3! You say the Legislature has the power to decriminalize things and that is true, but will they? Will it get passed all the votes and get signed by DeSantis? No the heck it won’t. So why leave this in the hands of people we know will vote NO and we can vote yes and have it legal!!! Oh my gosh people it is so easy. Stop believing the GOP lies and vote for freedom!
Brian Kelly
October 3, 2024 at 1:03 pm
Cannabis consumers deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more harmful, dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Why do have an such a big issue with this very simple straightforward premise, Cheesy Floridian?
Brian Kelly
October 3, 2024 at 1:30 pm
My Reply was directed at the OP which I thought was you by accident, my apologies Cheesy Floridan. I agree one hundred percent with your comment and my question remains for Pol (itical) Pot.
Brian Kelly
October 3, 2024 at 1:00 pm
Fear of Cannabis Legalization is unfounded. Not based on any science or fact whatsoever. So please prohibitionists, we beg you to give your scare tactics, “Conspiracy Theories” and “Doomsday Scenarios” over the inevitable Legalization of Cannabis Nationwide a rest. Nobody is buying them anymore these days. Okay?
Furthermore, if all prohibitionists get when they look into that nice, big and shiny crystal ball of theirs, while wondering about the future of cannabis legalization, is horror, doom, and despair, well then I suggest they return that thing as quickly as possible and reclaim the money they shelled out for it, since it’s obviously defective.
The prohibition of cannabis has not decreased the supply nor the demand for cannabis at all. Not one single iota, and it never will. Just a huge and complete waste of our tax dollars to continue criminalizing citizens for choosing a natural, non-toxic, relatively benign plant proven to be much safer than alcohol.
If prohibitionists are going to take it upon themselves to worry about “saving us all” from ourselves, then they need to start with the drug that causes more death and destruction than every other drug in the world COMBINED, which is alcohol!
Why do prohibitionists feel the continued need to vilify and demonize cannabis when they could more wisely focus their efforts on a real, proven killer, alcohol, which again causes more destruction, violence, and death than all other drugs, COMBINED?
Prohibitionists really should get their priorities straight and/or practice a little live and let live. They’ll live longer, happier, and healthier, with a lot less stress if they refrain from being bent on trying to control others through Draconian Cannabis Laws.
Brian Kelly
October 3, 2024 at 1:33 pm
Pol (itical) Pot,
Cannabis consumers deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more harmful, dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All American pastime, alcohol.
Plain and simple!
Why do have a such a big major irrational issue with this very simple straightforward premise, Pol (itical) Pot?
(Things that make us rational, reasonable Floridians go: Hummm….)
Jimbeau
October 3, 2024 at 11:08 am
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Billy Rotberg
October 3, 2024 at 5:28 pm
The legal consequences will still be the same even if it passes. A business bank account or credit card processor money can be seized by the feds. You are not allowed to own or buy a gun technically either.
alfred c
October 3, 2024 at 9:16 pm
The main issue is drug test for employment and or while they have a job.
Brian Kelly
October 4, 2024 at 7:12 am
Nonsense bologna! That is merely your personal lame, bogus prejudicial and stereotyping excuse to justify your irrational moral disapproval of cannabis use by anyone.
Infinitely more workers end up impaired at work, calling out of work or in a stupor because of alcohol than cannabis.
Why doesn’t alcohol concern you much more than relatively benign cannabis? It should.
Legalizing cannabis will not create a massive influx of cannabis impaired employees in our workplaces.
It will not create a huge influx of professionals (doctors, pilots, bus drivers, etc..) under the influence on the job either.
This is a prohibitionist propaganda scare tactic.
Truth: Responsible workers don’t go to work while impaired on any substance period!
Irresponsible employees already share our workplaces, and they will work while impaired regardless of their drug of choice’s legality.
Therefore, legalizing cannabis will have little to zero impact on the amount of marijuana impaired employees in our workplaces.
Responsible people do not go to work impaired, period. Regardless of their drug of choice’s legality.
Cannabis consumers in all states deserve and demand equal rights and protections under our laws that are currently afforded to the drinkers of far more dangerous and deadly, yet perfectly legal, widely accepted, endlessly advertised and even glorified as an All American pastime, booze.
Equal rights and protections as alcohol drinkers in our workplaces and everywhere else.
Plain and simple!
Legalize Cannabis Nationwide Federally Now!
Brian Kelly
October 4, 2024 at 7:15 am
Name calling and as in this case, stereotyping. It’s all that prohibitionists have left to offer society since virtually every piece of cannabis propaganda out there has been thoroughly debunked, and completely dismissed by a smarter than prohibitionists thought public.
Nobody can provide a real reason to continue the “War on Cannabis” because there isn’t one.
You know, a little live and let live goes a real long way towards ensuring a very long, stress and anger free life.
If somebody doesn’t approve of cannabis, then by all means, that person shouldn’t consume cannabis. Nobody is ever going to force anybody to consume cannabis that doesn’t desire to. Plain and simple. Problem solved.
Let’s allow other hard-working, tax paying adults to make their own choices about cannabis.
The government has no business attempting to legislate morality by creating victim-less cannabis “crimes” because it simply doesn’t work and has already cost the taxpayers a fortune.
A long list of successful people have admitted to partaking in cannabis in their lives, including:
BILL GATES
“As for drugs – well, Gates was certainly not unusual there. cannabis was the pharmaceutical of choice…”
(Source: Gates: How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry–and Made Himself the Richest Man in America)
PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
“I wouldn’t answer the cannabis questions. You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.”
(Source: New York Times)
OPRAH WINFREY
“To kick things off, [television show host Andy Cohen] asked the last time Winfrey had smoked cannabis. ‘Uh … 1982,’ Winfrey replied. ‘Let’s hang out after the show,’ Cohen joked. ‘Okay,’ Winfrey laughed. ‘I hear it’s gotten better.'”
(Source: Bravo)
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
“I experimented with cannabis a time or two.”
(Source: YouTube)
ASSOCIATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE CLARENCE
“The White House said today that Judge Clarence Thomas, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee, had smoked cannabis while in college.”
(Source: New York Times)
STEPHEN COLBERT
“First, [in high school], I smoked a lot of pot…and that’s how I got to know the people ‘half in’ the society of my high school and we waved at each other over the bong. Then I got to know people by making jokes.”
(Source: San Francisco Chronicle Interview (January 2006))
JON STEWART
“Do you know how many movies I wrote when I was high?”
JOHN KERRY
“Yes.” [In response to the question: “Which of you are ready to admit to having used cannabis in the past?”]
(Source: On The Issues)
GEORGE SOROS
“He said he had tried cannabis, enjoyed it, ‘but it did not become a habit and I have not tasted it in many years.'”
(Source: Reuters, 2/6/97)
BILL MAHER
“Look, I have never made a secret of the fact that I have tried cannabis… About 50,000 times.”
(Source: YouTube)
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO
“I did experiment with cannabis when I was a youth.”
(Source: New York Daily News)
SEN. RAND PAUL
(Source: GQ Magazine)
SANJAY GUPTA
“I have tried it.”
(Source: CNN)
GEORGE CLOONEY
“The owner of a local cannabis café told reporters George Clooney was no stranger there.”
(Source: The Weed Blog)
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG
”You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.”
(Source: New York Times)
The list goes on and on.
Cindy
October 5, 2024 at 8:47 pm
Between medicinal and vape. It just made paraphernalia legal again they can resume selling
Dont Say FLA
October 9, 2024 at 12:28 pm
Remember when the anti-liberty crowd didn’t come after people for safe and legal abortions? I do.
“Safe and legal” today means nothing about safety or legality tomorrow unless “safe and legal” been enshrined into the constitution.
Comments are closed.