This November, Florida voters will decide on a cannabis legalization measure, Amendment 3, when they fill out their ballots on Election Day 2024. Medical cannabis is already legal in Florida, and Florida’s medical cannabis market is currently one of the largest in the nation.
According to the Florida cannabis legalization campaign’s website, Amendment 3 “Allows adults 21 years or older to possess, purchase, or use marijuana products and marijuana accessories for non-medical personal consumption by smoking, ingestion, or otherwise; allows Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, and other state licensed entities, to acquire, cultivate, process, manufacture, sell, and distribute such products and accessories. Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. Establishes possession limits for personal use. Allows consistent legislation. Defines terms. Provides effective date.”
According to a recent poll conducted by Fox News, 66% of Florida voters plan on voting for Amendment 3 and 32% plan to vote against it. The remainder of voters are still undecided.
“Conducted June 1-4 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,075 Florida registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (176) and cellphones (670) or completed the survey online after receiving a text (229) and were given the option of completing the interview in English or Spanish. Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points.” Fox stated about the poll’s methodology.
According to cannabis industry data company Headset, “Florida could see $4.9 billion to $6.1 billion in sales during the first year of implementation (June 2025 through May 2026).”
“Collectively, the top five operators – Trulieve, MÜV, Ayr Cannabis Dispensary, Curaleaf, and Surterra Wellness – account for a staggering 71% of dispensing locations, 73% of medical marijuana sales, and 71% of marijuana sold for smoking in the state.” Headset states about the current Florida medical cannabis market.
An April 2024 market analysis by Pablo Zuanic of Zuanic & Associates projected that Florida’s cannabis industry would triple if voters approve adult-use legalization, going from the current $2 billion medical cannabis market to a $6 billion medical and adult-use cannabis market.
Every week the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use publishes program stats, and as of May 24, 2024, Florida’s medical cannabis program has registered 882,407 patients, along with 2,339 qualified physicians.
The United States adult-use cannabis industry has generated over $20 billion in total tax revenue since the first legal recreational cannabis purchase was made in Colorado on January 1st, 2014 according to a report by the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Through the first quarter of 2024, states have reported a combined total of more than $20 billion in tax revenue from legal, adult-use cannabis sales. In 2023 alone, legalization states generated more than $4 billion in cannabis tax revenue from adult-use sales, which is the most revenue generated by cannabis sales in a single year.” the Marijuana Policy Project stated in a press release.
79% of people living in the United States lived in a county with at least one regulated cannabis dispensary according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. The Pew Research Center also found the following:
- 74% of people in the U.S. live in a state where recreational or medical cannabis is legal
- There are nearly 15,000 cannabis dispensaries in the U.S.
- California has the most overall dispensaries (3,659)
- Oklahoma has the most dispensaries per capita (36 dispensaries for every 100,000 residents)
Total legal cannabis sales in the United States are expected to reach $31.4 billion in 2024 according to a recent analysis by Whitney Economics. Additionally, leading cannabis jobs platform Vangst, in conjunction with Whitney Economics, estimates that the legal cannabis industry now supports 440,445 full time-equivalent cannabis jobs in the United States.
Whitney Economics also projects the following legal cannabis sales figures in the United States for the coming years:
- 2024: $31.4 billion (9.1% growth from 2023)
- 2025: $35.2 billion (12.1% growth from 2024)
- 2030: $67.2 billion
- 2035: $87.0 billion
The emerging legal cannabis industry in the United States is projected to add roughly $112 billion to the nation’s economy in 2024 according to an analysis by MJBiz Daily. The projection is part of the company’s 2024 MJBiz Factbook.
“The total U.S. economic impact generated by regulated marijuana sales could top $112.4 billion in 2024, about 12% more than last year,” MJBiz stated in its initial reporting.