The push for medical marijuana in Florida has made another crucial step towards legalization; the Florida Supreme Court has approved that medical marijuana will be on the ballot come election time in November this year. The 4-3 decision to approve the motion was made only a few days after a petition circulating the state reached the minimum amount of signatures for the measure to be placed on the ballot. This push to get on the ballot was the final step in order for medicinal pot to be placed on the ballot, now it is up to the voters of this state to make the final decision on legalization.
Governor Rick Scott, who is against the legalization of marijuana, has been facing tough opposition as former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and current Florida Sen. Nan Rich have been supporting legalization along its way to make the ballot. Personal injury lawyer John Morgan has also contributed resources to medical marijuana, spending nearly $4 million placing this issue before voters.
The approval to put medical marijuana on the voting ballot this year makes Florida another big contender in pushing for the legalization and the establishment of a legal market for pot. This decision has come shortly after the legalization of the drug in Colorado and Washington state, where Colorado has already established a market for marijuana, and Washington should have its market operational by June of this year. Support for marijuana use has continually grown, not only in the aforementioned states, but in states such as Oregon and Alaska. Oregon’s ballot initiative failed in 2012, although supporters managed to raise over $32,000, compared to $4 million in Washington and $830,000 in Colorado, all those numbers from the same year. In Alaska, where medicinal use is legal, there is another push for total legalization of the drug; activists are claiming they have made another push to get an amendment on the state ballot for 2014. With legalization growing slowly popular amongst states, markets for marijuana will be established within the foreseeable future.