Last verified: May 2026
The Headline
Cannabis is not recreationally legal in Miami. It is medical-only at the state level, decriminalized at the Miami-Dade county level (the state’s first such program, June 2015), and deprioritized by the State Attorney’s Office since July 2019. Layered together, those three facts produce a uniquely permissive practical environment for residents with a Florida medical card — and a federal-charge minefield for anyone arriving by cruise ship, by plane, or driving into Everglades National Park.
State Law — Florida Chapter 893
Florida’s drug laws live in Chapter 893 of the Florida Statutes, the Florida Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act. Cannabis is a Schedule I controlled substance under §893.03 — the same schedule the state uses for heroin. Medical cannabis is carved out by §381.986 (covered in the Medical section); everything else lives under the criminal penalty regime described on our possession penalties page.
Crucially, Florida treats THC concentrates — vape cartridges, dabs, BHO, wax, distillate, RSO — as a separate substance under §893.13(6)(a). Possession of any amount of THC concentrate without a medical card is a third-degree felony, up to 5 years and a $5,000 fine. See the concentrate-felony trap.
Miami-Dade Civil Citation Program (June 2015)
In June 2015, the Miami-Dade County Commission voted 10–3 to authorize a civil citation program for possession of 20 grams or less — the first such program in Florida. The initiative was driven by Eleventh Judicial Circuit Judge Steven Leifman. Under the program, an officer has discretion to issue a $100 civil citation (or community service equivalent) instead of making an arrest. The City of Miami Beach adopted its own ordinance the same year; in May 2016 the City of Miami Commission joined.
In July 2019, then-State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle’s office formally announced it would decline to prosecute most simple-possession cases county-wide, citing the difficulty of distinguishing cannabis from newly legal hemp by smell or appearance.
⚠️ The discretion problem. Civil citations are discretionary, not mandatory. A 2023 Miami Herald investigation found that despite the policy, more than 4,200 marijuana-possession arrests occurred in Miami-Dade since 2019, even as prosecutors dropped roughly 97% of those cases. Enforcement varies widely between agencies: Miami Beach Police continue to use cannabis odor as probable cause for vehicle searches; Miami-Dade Police in unincorporated areas more frequently issue citations.
The Layered Stack — What It Means in Practice
- The state still calls it a crime for non-patients (Chapter 893).
- The county may issue a $100 civil citation for ≤20 g possession (officer discretion).
- The State Attorney has said it will not prosecute most simple-possession cases.
- The federal government enforces independently at PortMiami, MIA, federal courthouses, and national parks.
Key Facts at a Glance
| Recreational | Illegal at state level; civil-citation eligible inside Miami-Dade for ≤20 g |
|---|---|
| Medical | Legal under Article X §29 + §381.986; OMMU regulator; ~925K patients statewide |
| Possession ≤20 g flower (no card) | 1st-degree misdemeanor (state); $100 civil citation possible (county) |
| Possession (any concentrate, no card) | 3rd-degree felony, regardless of amount |
| Trafficking threshold | 25 lb / 300 plants — 3-year mandatory minimum |
| State Attorney prosecution policy | Declines most simple-possession cases since July 2019 (~97% dropped) |
| Civil-citation jurisdictions | Miami-Dade County, City of Miami, City of Miami Beach |
| Public consumption | Prohibited (county and municipal ordinances) |
| Out-of-state med-card reciprocity | None (Florida does not honor any other state’s card) |
| Recreational dispensaries | None — only state-licensed MMTCs serving qualified patients |
Where the Stack Doesn’t Apply
The Miami-Dade civil-citation framework only works on county and municipal property. The moment you step into a federal jurisdiction — a cruise terminal at PortMiami, a TSA checkpoint at MIA, a federal courthouse, the Wilkie D. Ferguson U.S. Courthouse on N. Miami Ave., Everglades National Park, or Biscayne National Park — Florida law and Miami-Dade ordinances are irrelevant. See the full federal-jurisdiction map.
It also doesn’t apply uniformly across Miami-Dade neighborhoods. Miami Beach Police remain among the most aggressive cannabis-odor enforcers in the county. The newly-elected Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (Sheriff Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, R, took office January 2025 — the first elected sheriff in nearly 60 years) is still working through how its discretionary cannabis enforcement will look in 2026.
What This Site Is, and What It Is Not
CannabisMiami.org does not list every dispensary — the count is changing weekly, and the official OMMU MMTC search at knowthefactsmmj.com is more current than any third-party list could be. What this site does is explain the legal terrain, the federal-jurisdiction tripwires, the Spanish-language patient access that defines the Miami market, and the practical realities of cannabis in a Hispanic-majority medical-only city that hosts the world’s busiest cruise port and the largest U.S. gateway to Latin America.
Companion State Site
For statewide Florida cannabis context — OMMU regulatory operations, statewide patient counts, the Amendment 2 origin story, the dual-renewal cost trap, MMTC licensing economics, and the politics of Florida cannabis outside Miami-Dade — see our companion state site CannabisFL.org.
For in-depth cannabis education, dosing guides, safety information, and research summaries, visit our partner site TryCannabis.org