2024 marijuana election updates, analysis & highlights

MJBizDaily reporters and editors are providing live coverage of the 2024 election, focusing on legalization ballot measures in four states, key federal races that could affect marijuana reform and other election-related tidbits.

Scroll down for updates our staff has filed about the states voting on marijuana-related proposals as well as potentially pivotal U.S. congressional races.

(All entries are in Eastern time.)

Marijuana signature-gathering a costly business in Florida

(7:08 p.m.)

Florida’s Amendment 3 is the most expensive marijuana legalization campaign of all time.

It’s also the most expensive signature drive anywhere in the country, according to Ballotpedia.

The campaign behind Amendment 3, Smart & Safe Florida, began its signature-gathering drive in 2022.

Each Florida county charges a per-signature “verification fee,” which ranges from a low of 10 cents in Dixie County to a high of $1.96 in Palm Beach County, according to state elections officials.

With more than 1 million signatures submitted statewide for the 2024 ballot initiative, the cost to qualify for the ballot added up fast.

– Chris Roberts

Harris better than Trump for cannabis, survey says

(6:13 p.m.)

The U.S. cannabis industry would fare better under Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, than former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, according to 45% of respondents to a new survey by YouGov, a polling organization.

According to the poll, 45% of respondents said Harris would be more beneficial to the regulated marijuana industry compared with 16% who believe Trump would be a better steward.

The poll, first reported by Marijuana Moment, complements a presidential-election first in which both candidates for the White House have come out in support of federal marijuana rescheduling.

The YouGov poll shows that 62% of Democrats who responded said the cannabis industry would do better if Harris were president.

However, the poll did not say how many Republicans believe Trump would do a better job for the cannabis industry.

The YouGov poll of 1,129 voting-age U.S. citizens was conducted Oct. 21-24 and has a margin of error of plus/minus 4%.

– Omar Sacirbey

Nebraska medical marijuana drama continues

(4:45 p.m.)

The Nebraska court case over whether two medical marijuana initiatives had enough legally obtained signatures to qualify for the state ballot remained unresolved Tuesday morning, even as voters headed to the polls.

Attorneys gave closing arguments on Monday in Lancaster County District Court, where Judge Susan Strong last week rejected a request by the plaintiff, former Nebraska state Sen. John Kuehn, to stop counting votes for:

• Initiative 437, which would allow health care providers to recommend medical marijuana and legalize MMJ possession.
• Initiative 438, which would legalize the manufacture, distribution, delivery and dispensing of state-regulated MMJ.

Final briefs in the case are due Nov. 18, and the judge is expected to issue a decision soon after.

According to Omaha TV station WOWT, the judge “will now take the case under advisement, asking for remaining briefs to be filed quickly so the state Supreme Court has time to handle the expected appeal.”

Meanwhile,  Adam Morfeld, a sponsor of Initiatives 437 and 438, told MJBizDaily on Monday that the MMJ campaign looks “forward to the people of Nebraska voting on the medical marijuana initiatives tomorrow and thank Judge Strong and the court for their time and careful deliberation in the coming weeks.”

– Kate Lavin

High stakes for Florida, Trulieve

(4:05 p.m.)

No marijuana company has ever gambled so much on a single vote than Trulieve Cannabis Corp., the main sponsor of Florida’s adult-use ballot initiative, Amendment 3.

The stakes are high and fairly clear for the Tallahassee-based marijuana multistate operator.

In quarterly filings posted Tuesday, Trulieve claimed to be “the largest cannabis retailer in the United States with market leading retail operations in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.”

As the dominant player in Florida, which is expected to become a $2.9 billion recreational marijuana market if Amendment 3 is successful with voters, Trulieve could see substantial monetary benefits from a “yes” vote.

The company on Tuesday reported a loss of 60 million Canadian dollars ($43.4 million) in the third quarter and CA$99 million in red ink through the first nine months of the fiscal year.

Since 2022, Trulieve has spent roughly $145 million on the campaign to legalize adult-use marijuana in Florida, according to campaign finance filings.

Shares of Trulieve trade as TRUL on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

– Chris Roberts