Under a law signed by Governor Rick Scott, some Florida medical marijuana caregivers and patients could have their registrations with the state revoked. Ron DeSantis was elected as Republican Governor of Florida last week.
DeSantis, the governor of Florida, signed SB 25, a budget bill which touches on a wide range of health issues, including cancer and dentistry. But it also contains a provision that directs the state Department of Health (DOH) to cancel registrations of medical marijuana patients and caregivers if they’re convicted of—or plead guilty or no contest to—criminal drug charges.
According to the measure, a patient’s or caregiver’s registration would be suspended immediately upon being accused of a drug-related state crime. The suspension would continue until the criminal matter is resolved.
DOH officials have the authority to restore the registration or revoke the entire suspension.
The authorities would have to cancel a patient’s or caregiver’s registration, “if they were convicted, or plead guilty, or said nolo contestre, regardless of the adjudication of a violation.” [of state drug law] “If the offense was trafficking, selling, manufacturing or delivering a controlled drug, or possessing a substance with the intent to do so, then it is deemed committing felony.”
This version of legislation is focused on the production and distribution. The legislation does not include an older restriction that was in previous versions. It would also have revoked the registration of people who bought illegal drugs for personal use, such as more than 10 gms of marijuana.
The document also clarifies the process by which patients or caregivers can request that their registration be restored. This would require a fresh application, “accompanied by notarized confirmation from the applicant that they have completed the conditions of probation, community control or supervision in relation to the offence.”
It’s not clear from the plain language of the revised bill whether it would impact only future criminal cases involving medical marijuana patients and caregivers or whether DOH would need to review the records of existing program registrants and revoke registrations of an untold number of Floridians with past drug convictions.
Notably, lawmakers defeated several proposals to expand the medical cannabis program during this year’s regular legislation session—including by allowing home cultivation, adding new qualifying conditions, protecting employment and parental rights of patients and letting military veterans register for free.
Separately in Florida, advocates are working toward putting a new adult-use marijuana legalization measure on the 2026 state ballot following the failure of Amendment 3 at the polls last November.
After filing the measure and launching a signature drive earlier this year, the campaign Smart & Safe Florida has collected 377,832 valid signatures—about 150,000 more than required to kick off the review process, according to Division of Elections numbers from last month.
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Statutorily, the state must now conduct an economic and judicial review to determine the legality of a measure and notify the electorate on its possible impact.
Smart & Safe Florida is hoping the revised version will succeed in 2026. The campaign—which in the last election cycle received tens of millions of dollars from cannabis industry stakeholders, principally the multi-state operator Trulieve—incorporated certain changes into the new version that seem responsive to criticism opponents raised during the 2024 push.
It now explicitly states, for example, that “smoking or vaping marijuana in public places is prohibited.”Another section states that rules regulating the manner, time and place of public consumption of cannabis would have to be approved by the legislator.
Gov. DeSantis has repeatedly criticised the initiative 2024 over this issue. He claimed that there are no parameters for preventing public smoking and expressed his dislike of the smell cannabis.
The governor said in February that the newest measure is in “big time trouble” with the state Supreme Court, predicting it will be blocked from going before voters next year.
Last year, the governor accurately predicted that the 2024 cannabis measure from the campaign would survive a legal challenge from the state attorney general. He doesn’t explain why this version of the campaign would have a different result.
While there’s uncertainty around how the state’s highest court will navigate the measure, a poll released in February showed overwhelming bipartisan voter support for the reform—with 67 percent of Florida voters backing legalization, including 82 percent of Democrats, 66 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.
However, the results conflict with another recent poll from the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a proactive opponent of legalization, that found majority support for the reform among likely voter (53 percent) but not enough to be enacted under the 60 percent requirement.
In the background of the campaign’s signature development, DeSantis signed a GOP-led bill to impose significant restrictions on the ability to put initiatives on the ballot—a plan that could impair efforts to let voters decide on marijuana legalization next year.
Separately, a Florida GOP senator claimed recently that the legalization campaign “tricked” Trump into supporting the 2024 measure by misleading him and the general public about key provisions.
Ahead of the election, Trump said in September that he felt Amendment 3 was “going to be very good” for the state.
Before making the comments, Trump met with the CEO of Trulieve, Kim Rivers, as well as with a GOP state senator who is in favor of the reform.
While Trump endorsed the Florida cannabis initiative—as well as federal rescheduling and industry banking access—he has since been silent on cannabis issues. Trump’s cabinet has a mixed track record when it comes to marijuana policy.
The Congressional Cannabis Caucus hasn’t held a meeting six months into this session, says the co-chair.
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