In a “major escalation” of the ongoing dispute between state officials and the campaign to legalize adult-use marijuana in Florida, state Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a slew of new investigations into election fraud on Tuesday.
Strongly denied by Smart & Safe Florida, a campaign committee registered primarily by Tallahassee-based marijuana company Trulieve Cannabis Corp., the fraud allegations come less than two weeks before a critical deadline to legalize marijuana in the 2026 election.
Smart & Safe Florida has until Feb. 1 to submit more than 880,000 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the legalization of adult-use marijuana on the November ballot.
A voter initiative to pass a constitutional amendment in Florida requires at least 60% of the vote.
But with the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis is over against cannabis reform, challenges are coming from all sides.
Why is Florida arresting campaign workers to legalize marijuana for adults?
On Tuesday, Uthmeier called the 50 petition circulators working for Smart & Safe “fraudsters,” saying they submitted signatures of state voters without their permission, including forging the signatures of deceased voters.
At least nine campaign workers have been arrested, and “a dozen arrest warrants” are expected this week, according to a January 20 letter signed by State Attorney Brad McVay.
McVay’s letter calls for subpoenas to be served directly on Smart & Safe to determine whether the campaign “itself” also violated election law.
The new criminal investigation comes after “unprecedented pressure” on local election officials to declare the petitions already submitted invalid, Florida Politics reports.
A campaign spokesperson told Florida Politics that the campaign complies with state election law and reports discrepancies to the secretary of state.
“In short, it seems that the Attorney General is facing the fact that we are clearly following the law,” the statement read.
Will Florida legalize adult-use marijuana in 2026?
Meanwhile, both the state and the legalization campaign have been sued for signing petitions that have already been sent.
A Leon County judge last week ruled that 29,000 signatures collected by out-of-state campaign workers must be invalid — a ruling that the campaign quickly appealed.
Uthmeier is also accused of wrongdoing.
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Uthmeier was DeSantis’ chief of staff in 2024, the last time Florida’s marijuana legalization came up for election — and when about $10 million in Medicaid payments ended up in the campaign fund he controlled.
Cannabis advocates have accused the DeSantis administration of illegally using those funds to oppose the legalization of marijuana.
Florida, the nation’s only major market for medical marijuana, is seen as the adult-use industry’s best opportunity for expansion.
However, a recent poll by the state Chamber of Commerce found only 51% support for legalizing marijuana, the lowest level in four years.
