A proposed medical marijuana ballot initiative is headed to the Florida Supreme Court for review.

By the end of the day Monday, the state had verified 73,713 petitions -- about 5,400 more than needed to qualify for review by the court.

The verified signatures come after United for Care, the organization pushing for a medical marijuana amendment, submitted more than 100,000 signatures for review on July 22. The signatures were then checked to determine there were no duplicates and that the signees were on Florida voter rolls.

Of those, 73,713 signatures passed that test.

A constitutional amendment to allow medical marijuana in Florida has reached a key milestone in its petition drive, triggering required reviews by Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Florida Supreme Court.

The proposal has gotten 73,713 signatures, according to Florida Division of Elections data. Bondi has 30 days to review the ballot language and send it to the Supreme Court, which will determine if it's constitutional.

The amendment would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical purposes and allow the state Department of Health to regulate marijuana growth and sale. In the 2014 election, it fell just short of the 60 percent required to amend the state constitution.

While the Florida state legislature continues to talk in circles around the issue of pot reform, a legion of cannabis activists have come forward with a ballot initiative aimed at legalizing recreational marijuana in 2016.  Regulate Florida, an organization seeking to repeal prohibition in the Sunshine State, received word last week from state election officials that their master plan to put the issue of legal weed on the ballot in the next presidential election had been approved. 

A new initiative which would re-legalize marijuana use for adults in Florida is gaining interest. On August 29, 2015, Floridians for Freedom increased their Facebook fan page interest by 54 percent as Libertarians, Democrats, Republicans and independents began signing up to volunteer for the new organization. Yesterday, volunteers began going out to get petitions signed so the initiative will be able to go before voters on the November 2016 ballot.

Another day, another botched police sting.

A Florida family seeks justice after their son Jason Westcott, was killed by members of a SWAT team, during a “drug raid” on his house which yielded only $2.00 worth of marijuana.

An ‘internal investigation’ absolved officers of any wrongdoing though police only found .02 grams of marijuana in Westcott’s home.

“They have IA, they have internal investigations but when you police yourself, you have that veil of concern by the outsider,” said attorney T.J. Grimaldi.

On Tuesday, attorney T.J. Grimaldi, representing the family of Westcott, informed the city that family would be filing a lawsuit, after finding numerous “glaring inconsistencies” in police statements in the aftermath of the killing.

A voter initiative to turn marijuana into a legal, regulated product in Florida, much like alcohol, was approved Wednesday by the Florida Division of Elections.

Called “Regulate Florida,” the petition spells out a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution.

Under the act, it would be legal for adults aged 21 or older to own up to an ounce of marijuana, grow up to six plants within their own own residence, or give away marijuana to someone else.

If approved, the measure would set a July 2017 deadline for Florida state government to begin licensing and regulating commercial grocers, processors and retailers.

The six nursery businesses that have applied to be Southwest Florida's medical marijuana dispensing organization are turning to prominent professionals in the Sunshine State and cultivation experts from Colorado who have experience in the pot-growing industry.

The state has been divided into five regions and only one license will be issued per region. Overall 28 applications were submitted from 24 nurseries. The six applicants for the region that includes Southwest Florida are based in LaBelle, Arcadia, Sarasota, Ruskin (two), and Homestead.

Back in July, medical marijuana advocates United for Care shipped over 100,000 petitions to Florida Supervisors of Elections offices for Supreme Court review. Once the Supervisor of Elections verifies that petitions are valid, the Supreme Court can then schedule a review so that the initiative can start to make its way to the ballot.

And the push is on.

As of Thursday, United for Care says that over 43,259 have been validated, according to their website counter. The group needs an additional 639,890 validated to get on the ballot, and roughly 28,154 to trigger the Supreme Court Review. 

Lawmakers in Miami Beach have passed a new law that allows police to give a $100 citation to persons possessing under 20 grams of marijuana, instead of arresting and sending them to jail.

The Miami Beach Mayor mentioned: “We don’t want marijuana smoking on the streets. That’s still illegal. It’s illegal to distribute or sell any marijuana or anything like that. But if someone’s caught with under 20 grams, we don’t want to ruin their lives.”

Florida law states that possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana is a misdemeanor and punishable by up to one year in prison with fines up to $1,000.

There is a growing trend in Florida. Local governments are voting to decriminalize marijuana. Florida lawmakers may not be willing to step up and decriminalize marijuana, but that hasn’t stopped local governments in Southeastern Florida from taking matters into their own hands. Key West, Florida is the latest local government to decriminalize marijuana. Per The Joint Blog: