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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is working hard to keep a cannabis legalization initiative off the 2024 ballot. The attorney general recently issued a brief to the Florida Supreme Court detailing why she is opposed to the addition of the legalization measure on next year’s ballot.
Moody had received a two-week extension from the court to give her more time to finish the brief, and she submitted it on the Monday deadline. The Attorney General’s office is looking to nullify the marijuana legalization measure based on the argument that its ballot summary’s language is “affirmatively misleading” in several ways.
According to Moody, the summary does not take adequate steps to inform Florida voters that cannabis will remain illegal at the federal level. She notes in her brief that prior court opinions on ballot legalization measures did not stress the fact that “voters need clear guidance” before being asked to eliminate state-level penalties for possessing a substance that would still be illegal per the federal law. The note stated that “rampant disinformation in the press” and the measure’s sponsor made the need for clarity in the measure summary even more necessary.
Moody also argued that the ballot measure was misleading because it suggested the legislation would raise the number of cannabis retailers when the reality is it would simply allow existing operations to expand their retail outlets. Increased competition in the cannabis marketplace would increase product quality and professionalism among cannabis producers and retailers while reducing retail prices, the brief explained.
However, Moody said in her note, the state only allows medical marijuana treatment centers to take part in the cannabis trade at the moment, and the ballot measure won’t take any steps to change this. Moody states that the measure is also misleading because it would leave “reasonable voters” with the impression that they have limited immunity for the possession of up to three ounces of cannabis when in reality they would be subject to certain penalties for possessing more than the allowable amounts of cannabis.
Furthermore, the measure would limit the legislature’s ability to increase the maximum possession limit for cannabis and home marijuana cultivation in its entirety, allowing companies such as Trulieve, which financed the measure, to “entrench their monopoly in the marijuana market.”
Finally, the attorney general said that the ballot measure is misleading because it does not mention that the Florida Department of Health won’t be granted “constitutional regulatory authority” in the adult-use cannabis industry like it has medical cannabis. She noted that the bill neglected to disclose that there will be a significant period after legalization when medical cannabis dispensaries take part in the unregulated recreational cannabis trade.
In general, Moody concluded, the measure asks voters to usher in major changes to the state constitution without explaining what those changes would be; The bill should therefore be nullified, she states.
It is interesting to note that most controversy regarding marijuana in Florida and indeed around the world hinges on the recreational use of the substance. Enterprises that specialize in leveraging the medicinal properties of the plant, such as IGC Pharma Inc. (NYSE American: IGC), are insulated from those debates because they operate in a stable environment guided by the FDA drug-development protocols.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to IGC Pharma Inc. (NYSE American: IGC) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://cnw.fm/IGC
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