Florida
Florida marijuana laws: What to know about the state’s history of legalization attempts
DeSantis: Recreational marijuana will bring stench of weed smoke
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said recreational marijuana is likely on its way to legalization but added that the smell is a “big problem” in legal states.
Floridians this year could become the 25th state where recreational marijuana is legal — if the Florida Supreme Court approves the Adult Personal Use of Marijuana ballot initiative.
Even though Gov. Ron DeSantis said there could be a “big problem” with weed stinking up public places, he also predicted the amendment would make it to the November ballot. Right now, the Florida Supreme Court has until April 1 to approve the ballot initiative, which would decriminalize marijuana for adults 21 and over under state law. Marijuana would still be outlawed federally if voters end up passing the referendum with a 60 percent majority. Marijuana laws have evolved in Florida over the past decade as pro-cannabis activists have quarreled with the status quo to make weed accessible to more Floridians, even without a medical card.
More: Who can and can’t get a medical marijuana card in Florida? Here’s everything you need to know
Here’s how Florida’s marijuana laws have progressed over the past decade:
Limited medical marijuana legalized 2014
The 2014 Compassionate Use Act legalizes low-THC medical cannabis for patients with cancer and epilepsy.
Amendment 2 referendum fails 2014
The expansive medical marijuana that passed two years later failed the first time it was attempted in 2014. Needing a supermajority of 60 percent of voters to approve the amendment, the measure only received just over 57 percent, leaving activists to regroup.
Full strength medical marijuana legalized 2016
In 2016, the Right to Try Act allows full strength marijuana for patients with terminal conditions. Prior to the law, only low-THC strains of marijuana had been allowed for those patients.
Medical marijuana expanded further 2016
In 2016, the Florida Medical marijuana Legalization Initiative referendum passed with 71.3% of the vote, expanding medical marijuana program. The legislature implemented the law in summer of 2017.
Previously, only those with terminal conditions were allowed access to medical marijuana. Under the new law, marijuana access was extended to those with conditions such as HIV, PTSD, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis.
Smoking weed legalized for medical users 2019
By 2019, the Florida legislature reversed previous bans on smokable forms of marijuana along with THC vaping under medical marijuana program.
Recreational marijuana petition fails 2021
Two years before the petition now being considered by the Florida Supreme Court received enough signatures to be placed on the ballot, a similar one was rejected by justices who said the language was misleading.
Activists gathered more than 556,000 signatures out of the 891,589 needed for the measure to make the 2022 ballot before the court ruled the amendment’s language failed to clarify marijuana would still be illegal under federal rules.
Recreational marijuana petition 2023
Hoping to overcome the earlier setback, Smart and Safe Florida collected over a million petition signatures to put adult personal use of marijuana legalization on the 2024 ballot.
Although activists have included language in this latest petition to clarify that the state law will not override federal rules against marijuana, the state of Florida is still challenging the petition, hoping to keep it from reaching the ballot in the November 2024 election.
The state again has argued before the Supreme Court that the amendment fails to accurately inform voters that marijuana would still be illegal under federal law.
More: DeSantis predicts Florida will vote on recreational marijuana in 2024, site says
When does the Florida Supreme Court have to decide?
Florida Supreme Court justices have until April 1 to approve the amendment language for November’s ballot. Even though Gov. Ron DeSantis has voiced concerns over the smell of marijuana smoke proliferating in public spaces should it become decriminalized, he also predicted the court will approve the measure.
Florida
Our leaders look to the past, but it's not a pretty picture
Florida
Hollywood stars shine in Naples, Fort Myers: Movies shot in SW Florida
Zombies shuffle through downtown Fort Myers. A group of kids fight to save Cape Coral’s burrowing owls. Dakota Fanning kisses a boy on a Captiva Island beach.
And the cameras are rolling to capture it all.
Film crews have visited Southwest Florida many times over the years, and so have some of Hollywood’s biggest stars: Denzel Washington. Jayne Mansfield. Reese Witherspoon. Sean Connery. Drew Barrymore. Joe Pesci. Jessica Lange. Woody Harrelson. And many more.
To celebrate the upcoming Academy Awards on March 15, we’re taking a look at some of the biggest movies shot over the last seven decades in Fort Myers, Naples and other parts of Southwest Florida. One of them even won an Oscar for Best Actor (Jessica Lange in “Blue Sky”).
‘NIGHT MOVES’ (starring Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns and Melanie Griffith)
The film: Film noir about a Los Angeles private investigator (Gene Hackman) hired to find a client’s runaway daughter. His search takes him to the Florida Keys.
Year released: 1975
Director: Arthur Penn
Production: Some scenes were shot on Sanibel Island. The rest were filmed in California and Wakulla Springs, Florida. “Night Moves” was directed by Arthur Penn, who also directed the movie classics “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Little Big Man,” “The Miracle Worker” and “Alice’s Restaurant.”
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83%
Sample review: “‘Night Moves’ is one of the best psychological thrillers in a long time, probably since ‘Don’t Look Now’ … If you like private eyes, find it.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
‘BLUE SKY’ (starring Tommy Lee Jones, Jessica Lange and Powers Boothe)
The film: Drama about a nuclear cover-up involving a U.S. Army nuclear engineer (Tommy Lee Jones) and his wife (Jessica Lange).
Year released: 1994
Director: Tony Richardson
Production: Some scenes were shot in Fort Myers and North Captiva Island. Lange won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role. The film was finished in 1991, just before the death of its director.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
Sample review: “What makes it feel like a Hollywood film from another era is its belief that character can drive a movie; that there is nothing more fascinating than the complexities of the human heart.” — David Ansen, Newsweek
‘WIND ACROSS THE EVERGLADES’ (starring Christopher Plummer, Burl Ives, Gypsy Rose Lee and Peter Falk)
The film: Christopher Plummer plays a crusading Audubon Society agent who takes on bird poachers in the Florida Everglades. The bad guys want the birds’ feathers for women’s hats.
Year released: 1958
Director: Nicholas Ray
Production: Filming took place in the town of Chokoloskee, just south of Everglades City. The movie marked the big-screen debut of actor Peter Falk.
“Wind Across the Everglades” was written and produced by brothers Budd and Stuart Schulberg. Budd Schulberg is best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplay for the classic 1954 drama “On The Waterfront.” Director Nicholas Ray is best known for the 1955 James Dean classic, “Rebel Without A Cause.”
Rotten Tomatoes score: 55%
Sample review: “Canada’s Christopher Plummer is suitably heroic and rock-jawed in this lively but chaotic action drama. He’s a dedicated conservationist who invades the Florida swamps and tries to stop red-bearded Burl Ives from slaughtering the wild birds.” — Clyde Gilmour, Maclean’s Movies
Read more: Christopher Plummer’s early film fame came in the Everglades in Collier County
‘THE FAT SPY’ (starring Phyllis Diller, Jack E. Leonard, Brian Donlevy and Jayne Mansfield)
The film: “The Fat Spy’s” over-stuffed, head-scratching story spoofs the 1965 beach-party movie “Beach Blanket Bingo.” A group of teenagers search for buried treasure on a (mostly) deserted island — that is, when they’re not dancing and singing to knock-off rock songs like “Do the Turtle.”
Meanwhile, the island’s owner enlists his daughter and her rose-loving romantic interest to stop the teens. And the owner’s twin brother and the villainous Camille Salamander search everywhere for the long-lost Fountain of Youth.
Year released: 1966
Director: Joseph Cates
Production: The movie was shot in Cape Coral in 1965 as a publicity stunt orchestrated by Cape Coral developers Gulf American Land Corp. That’s why the city’s name is mentioned often in the film and why scenes are shot at tourist-friendly spots like the Cape Coral Yacht Club, the beach, the Iwo Jima memorial and former tourist attraction Cape Coral Gardens, including shots of its rose garden, fountains and popular porpoise show.
“The Fat Spy” was one of Mansfield’s last roles. She would die in a car crash in 1967.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 23%
Sample review: “As a film reviewer, I get to see an awful lot of movies — not to mention a lot of awful movies. However, every now and then, it is possible to come across a film that goes beyond just being bad. … The 1966 feature ‘The Fat Spy’ falls into that unique category.” — Phil Hall, Film Threat
Read more: ‘The Fat Spy’ and the year Hollywood came to Southwest Florida
‘OUT OF TIME’ (Denzel Washington, Eva Mendes and Sanaa Lathan)
The film: In this crime thriller, the police chief (Denzel Washington) of fictional Florida town Banyan Key begins an affair with a married woman who says she has terminal cancer. To pay for her treatment, he steals money confiscated in a drug bust. But then the woman and her abusive husband die in a suspicious fire, the money disappears and the chief is the prime suspect.
Year released: 2003
Director: Carl Franklin
Production: Multiple Florida locations were used to create the fictional town of Banyan Key, including Boca Grande. The opening five minutes of the film were shot in downtown Boca, where dozens of local extras showed up for filming in 2002.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 64%
Sample review: “It’s all very ‘Body Heat,’ which is to say, we’ve seen it all before. … ‘Out of Time’ (is) a well-performed, perfectly watchable thriller that’s nonetheless as generic as its title.” — Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times
‘HOOT’ (starring Luke Wilson, Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson and Logan Lerman)
The film: A group of kids try to save a burrowing-owl habitat from bad-guy developers building a pancake restaurant. The comedy is based on Carl Hiaasen’s novel of the same name. It’s set in Coconut Cove, a fictional town based on Cape Coral — a city famous for its burrowing owls.
Year released: 2006
Director: Wil Shriner
Production: “Hoot” was filmed mainly on Florida’s east coast, including Fort Lauderdale, but parts were shot in Lee County’s Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 26%
Sample review: “While the novel is drenched in Hiaasen’s wit, sense of adventure and aggressive environmentalism, the film emerges as a vanilla comedy, only slightly more interesting than most.” — Toddy Burton, The Austin Chronicle
‘DAY OF THE DEAD’ (starring Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato and Jarlath Conroy)
The film: With this horror classic, director George A. Romero completed the zombie trilogy that started with 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead.” The story follows a group of scientists and soldiers hiding in a Florida bunker as they try to solve the zombie outbreak that’s taken over the world above.
Year released: 1985
Director: George A. Romero
Production: Most of the underground filming took place in a limestone mine in Wampum, Pennsylvania. But above-ground scenes were shot in downtown Fort Myers, and the bunker’s elevator-platform entrance was built in a Sanibel Island field.
Downtown Fort Myers doubled as the city of the dead. The movie’s opening scene sees local extras, dressed as zombies, pouring out of Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center and shambling along the River District’s streets.
That scene helped inspire the now defunct Zombicon festival, where people dressed up as zombies every year and recreated the scene for the annual “zombie walk.” The festival ended after a fatal shooting in 2015.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
Sample review: “It’s an intelligent, well-written, excellently played movie, with top flight gore/horror effects, perverse humor and a provocatively bleak vision. … An inventive gore-fest, and one of the best horror movies of the eighties.” — Kim Newman, Empire
‘SWEET HOME ALABAMA’ (starring Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, Patrick Dempsey, Candice Bergen, Fred Ward, Dakota Fanning and Thomas Curtis)
The film: Romantic comedy about a New York fashion designer (Reese Witherspoon) who returns to Alabama to get a divorce after six years of separation.
Year released: 2002
Director: Andy Tennant
Production: Some scenes were shot at South Seas Island Resort and its nearby beach. The filming involved actors Dakota Fanning, 7, and Thomas Curtis, 9, kissing and playing younger versions of Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas. Another scene shows Witherspoon and Lucas also kissing.
The scenes were originally supposed to be shot in Georgia, but the weather was too cold there. Most of the film was shot in New York and Georgia.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 38%
Sample review: “With its overlong running time and egregiously sluggish pace, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ comes off as a sporadically amusing yet entirely ineffective romantic comedy that ultimately squanders an expectedly charismatic turn from star Reese Witherspoon.” — Dave Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
‘COUPE DE VILLE’ (starring Patrick Dempsey, Daniel Stern, Arye Gross, Annabeth Gish)
The film: In this comedy-drama, three bickering brothers drive a 1954 Cadillac from Detroit to Florida to deliver the car for their mother’s birthday.
Year released: 1990
Director: Joe Roth
Production: Some scenes from “Coupe de Ville” were shot in Cape Coral and Fort Myers.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Sample review: “There is something deadening about the kind of formula picture where you know with absolute certainty what is going to happen, and how, and why. And ‘Coupe de Ville’ is composed of so many formulas that they must have a template for it in screenwriting school.” — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
‘PALMETTO’ (starring Woody Harrelson, Elisabeth Shue and Gina Gershon)
The film: An ex-convict (Woody Harrelson) gets entangled in a fake kidnapping scheme that goes horribly wrong. Based on the James Hadley Chase novel “Just Another Sucker.”
Year released: 1998
Director: Volker Schlöndorff
Production: Some scenes were shot in downtown Fort Myers with Woody Harrelson. Others were shot in Charlotte County, Palmetto and Sarasota, Florida.
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 39%
Sample review: “Another film noir chump meets blond poison in the Florida-set ‘Palmetto.’ … Director Volker Schlondorff brings scant dramatic urgency to a potentially nifty dissection of a badly botched felony.” — Mike Clark, USA Today
“GONE FISHIN’” (starring Danny Glover, Joe Pesci and Rosanna Arquette)
The film: Two New Jersey buddies go fishing in Florida in this wacky Disney comedy. They’re soon involved in a string of mishaps involving a stolen boat and car, hurricanes and more.
Year released: 1997
Director: Christopher Cain
Production: “Gone Fishin’” was filmed throughout Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers, Estero, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades National Park.
A stuntwoman died during filming when a boat lost control and hit her boat near Goodland Bay. Her husband and other people on the set also had minor injuries.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
Sample review: “The mis-pegged comedy/adventure — there is a dearth of both — inexplicably boasts a first-rate cast. But the plot and dialogue are third-rate.” — Nick Charles, New York Daily News
‘JUST CAUSE’ (starring Sean Connery, Blair Underwood, Laurence Fishburne, Ed Harris and Kate Capshaw)
The film: In this crime thriller, a Harvard professor and former lawyer (Sean Connery) investigates a 25-year-old case involving a black man (Blair Underwood) convicted for the horrific murder of an 11-year-old girl. It’s set in Ochopee.
Year released: 1995
Director: Arne Glimcher
Production: “Just Cause” was filmed on location in Fort Myers, Bonita Springs and Collier County.
Rotten Tomatoes score: 26%
Sample review: “Despite its tendency to tread well-traveled roads, ‘Just Cause’ is filmed with enough energy and craft that, for the majority of its one-hundred minute running time, it’s reasonably entertaining.” — James Berardinelli, ReelViews
MORE MOVIES WITH SWFL CONNECTIONS: ‘Adaptation,’ ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’
These movies prominently feature Southwest Florida, but they weren’t actually shot here:
- “Terror Inside” (2008): Corey Feldman and Tanya Memme star in this independent film shot in Orlando but with some scenes set in Fort Myers and Cape Coral. It was written and directed by Cape Coral resident Joe Lenders.
- “Adaptation” (2002): This loose adaptation of Susan Orlean’s non-fiction book features scenes set in Florida, including Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. But the movie actually was filmed in Los Angeles. It stars Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep.
- “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” (1994): The Jim Carrey comedy features a scene set in Collier County — including a billboard that says “Welcome to Collier County” — but the movie was actually shot in the Miami area, according to online movie database IMDb.
Connect with this reporter: Call 239-335-0368 or email crunnells@gannett.com. Or connect on social media at Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter) and @crunnells1 (Instagram).
Florida
Florida State men’s hoops vs. SMU: Preview, how to watch, game thread
Florida State men’s basketball (16-14, 9-8) finishes off its regular season with a Senior-Day matchup against SMU (19-11, 8-9). The Seminoles fell to the Mustangs 83-80 earlier in the year after trailing by double digits in the second half.
Luke Loucks’ team is coming off a 2-0 roadtrip, most recently, with a victory over Pitt on Wednesday night. The Noles finished the 2025-26 season winning five-straight road games, a feat the school has not accomplished since 1992. While Georgia Tech and Pitt, the two schools the Seminoles saw on the road trip, are not exactly Duke and North Carolina, stats like these show the progress Loucks has made in only his first year at the helm.
The shocking success in the rookie head coach’s first season makes Saturday a vital game in the ACC standings, something that felt impossible back in January when FSU was 0-5 in conference play. Florida State needs some help, but with a win today and favorable results across the league, the Noles could end up as a #7 seed in the ACC tournament, earning a bye and avoiding Duke’s side of the bracket.
Part of the reason the #7 seed is even in play for Florida State is SMU’s recent struggles. The Mustangs are currently on a three-game losing streak after seemingly being too far ahead for the Noles to chase down. The three defeats did come from the two California ACC schools on their West Coast trip and a home defeat to red-hot Miami, so not exactly the easiest games, but the Noles will take any schedule breaks they can get.
Today’s game tips off at 2:00 PM ET on ACC Network.
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