Recreational Marijuana Legalized In 4 More States

ACROSS AMERICA — The movement to legalize marijuana in the United States took a big leap forward on Election Day as four more states made the drug legal for recreational purposes and two more approved its use for medicinal reasons.

Recreational marijuana will soon be legal in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota after the majority of voters favored it in all states where it was on the ballot, according to the unofficial results in Tuesday's general election.

It is already legal in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Colorado, Michigan, Oregon, Nevada, Maine, Vermont, Alaska and Washington state.

South Dakota became the first state to legalize recreational and medicinal marijuana in the same election, and Mississippi this week became the 36th state to allow medical marijuana, according to the unofficial results.

As the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws organization put it: Marijuana went “undefeated” on Election Day.

Related On Patch: New Jersey Voters Legalize Marijuana, Can You Be Arrested For Smoking?

“The public has spoken loudly and clearly,” NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri said in a statement. “They favor ending the failed policies of marijuana prohibition and replacing it with a policy of legalization, regulation, taxation and public education.”

The seemingly widespread support for legal marijuana in the United States now is a sharp turn from where the country stood on the issue a decade ago.

California was the first state to consider legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes in 2010. The measure failed, with 53.5 percent of voters in one of the nation’s largest, and most liberal, states voting against the proposition.

Ten years later, and voters in conservative South Dakota are in favor of it. 52.4 percent of voters this week decided to legalize it in The Mount Rushmore State.

Chase Terwilliger, CEO of the Denver-based Balanced Health Botanicals CBD company, has noticed the “acceptance” that has come to the cannabis industry in recent years.

“People who have been against the plant, and stigmatized the plant, are now able to see it as not as bad as they once thought it was,” Terwilliger told Patch. “As it has gone more mainstream, the consumers are better off because of the ability to perform more clinical and safety studies.”

Some states that have legalized marijuana have focused more on its financial benefits.

In Illinois, more than $530 million was spent on recreational marijuana in the first nine months after it became legal at the start of 2020. The additional revenue makes up a part of the $6.7 billion of unpaid bills and $137 billion of pension debt the state faces.

In Arizona, legalization is expected to bring in about $166 million in revenue. Montana will enact a 20 percent tax and South Dakota a 15 percent excise tax on recreational marijuana sales, according to CNBC.

Terwilliger predicts marijuana will become legal across the United States, at the federal level, within four years. Pot shops, he said, could be “as mainstream as liquor stores” by 2028.

That won’t come without a fight from those who oppose legalization, however.

Kevin Sabet, president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said the pro-pot vote results in New Jersey in particular are "disappointing but not surprising.” Unofficial election results show 1.9 million Garden State voters favored legal marijuana, while just more than 951,000 voted against it.

"After spending at least $4 million lobbying lawmakers, Big Pot spent another $2 million to hoodwink voters into allowing its expansion," Sabet said.

"This investment may pay dividends for the industry, but it will not pay off for those who will suffer as a result of increased substance use disorders, drugged driving, poorer educational outcomes and economic opportunities."

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have now legalized pot for recreational purposes. One of them, Oregon, has since gone farther in the legalization and decriminalization of drugs.

Voters there approved a controversial measure that decriminalizes psychedelic mushrooms and small amounts of harder drugs including cocaine and heroin.

Oregon decriminalizes hard drugs as a way to favor rehabilitation over incarceration, backers of the measure that passed on Election Day have said.

“We have been criminalizing people for at least 50 years, and what we know is that it hasn’t gotten us any closer to having our loved ones get the care that they need at the scale that it requires,” Kassandra Frederique, executive director of Drug Policy Alliance, told the Washington Post.

“Criminalization is not a deterrent to use, and it’s not a humane approach. This is about recognizing that we need to support people.”