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Before whipping out a joint, glass pipe, or your favorite vaporizer pen in Florida, you might want to check the Sunshine State’s statistics when it comes to marijuana citations.
In a comprehensive report from Evan Anderson of Muckrock, the researcher details which states not to smoke in, based on the average number of citations given to smokers throughout a year.
Yearly Marijuana Citations Per Capita (Courtesy of Muckrock Reporting)
According to data, Florida blew other states out of the water when it came to money collected from marijuana violations. Not only does the Sunshine State take the cake when it comes to the most marijuana citations per year, but it’s also a place where possessing 20 grams or more of marijuana, can send you to federal prison for at least five years.
To put Florida’s anti-marijuana sentiment in proper perspective, when compared to Arizona, California, Texas, and Vermont between 2011 and 2014, Florida had about five times as many marijuana citations, even though Florida’s population is 50% less than California’s.
Furthermore, Evan Anderson points out in the report that, “even after controlling for population, Florida still surpasses the rest of the states by far, handing out tickets to one in 294 people in 2011.Compare this to Arizona, the next largest distributor of marijuana citations per capita in the sample, which issued one citation for every 3,313 people in 2011.”
During last year’s marijuana elections, Florida narrowly missed a 60% voting percentage needed to pass medical marijuana for the state by 2.5%, despite the majority of people voting yes for Amendment 2.
To make matters worse for marijuana enthusiasts living in the Sunshine State, front-runner for the GOP nomination of the 2016 Presidential election, Jeb Bush, who admitted to smoking marijuana as well as selling hash while attending boarding school, fiercely opposes both medical and recreational marijuana for the state. Go figure.
Although marijuana legalization in Florida remains an uncertainty for now, this new data, coupled with the current political climate in Florida, proves at least one certainty: Florida has no love for stoners.
