The multi-million dollar effort to Recreational marijuana in Florida has failed.

Amendment 3, which would have allowed adults 21 and older to purchase and consume marijuana without a medical card, received about 56 percent of the vote, less than the 60 percent needed to pass.

The amendment drew opposition from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in the weeks leading up to the election held news conferences speaking out against the measure. State agencies have also aired anti-marijuana ads.

Now that the amendment has failed, here’s what you need to know about Amendment 3 and marijuana in Florida.

What is Amendment 3?

Amendment 3 would have allowed adults 21 and older to purchase and consume up to three ounces of marijuana.

The measure was put to a vote by the group Smart & Safe Florida, supported primarily by marijuana company Trulieve. Trulieve has donated more than $100 million to marijuana legalization efforts.

The group has collected more than a million petitions from Florida voters. to put the amendment to the vote.

Who can use marijuana in Florida now?

Only people with a medical marijuana card can legally purchase and consume marijuana in Florida. In 2016, state voters approved medical pot through a constitutional amendment.

To obtain a medical card, patients must pass an in-person exam by a doctor and must be diagnosed with at least one qualifying medical condition. Such conditions include things like cancer, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic non-malignant pain, or any other “same class type” medical condition.

A medical marijuana card costs $75 each time it is issued or renewed, and patients must also pay a doctor’s consultation fee, which determines how much marijuana a patient can purchase.

In opposing Amendment 3, DeSantis said Florida already has legal marijuana. He said he knows that not all of Florida’s more than 880,000 medical marijuana patients suffer from “debilitating illnesses.”

“If you really want it in Florida, you can already get it,” he said.

Can groups try again?

Yes. If marijuana advocates wanted to try again to get legal cannabis in another election cycle, they could.

It’s already happened. In 2014, a ballot measure that would have allowed medical marijuana use failed. Then, in 2016, a similar constitutional amendment allowing medical use was passed. John Morgan, the deep-pocketed Florida lawyer and cannabis advocate, pushed both ballot initiatives.

The campaign behind Amendment 3 has raised more than $150 million, the vast majority from Trulieve.

Florida lawmakers have already made the ballot initiative process more difficult and costly in recent years. And it could get even more difficult. DeSantis The election security office has requested changes to the petition process, although the state has remained tight-lipped about the nature of these specific changes.

Could Marijuana Become Federally Legal?

Former President Donald Trump, a Florida elector, said he would vote yes on Amendment 3. Trump said he believed it was “time to end unnecessary arrests and incarceration of adults for small amounts of marijuana for personal use.”

But Trump didn’t say he would do it legalize marijuana nationally if elected.

Kamala Harris said that if elected president, it would legalize recreational marijuana.

• • •