Four More States Could Legalize Marijuana In November

Four more states are poised to legalize recreational marijuana through ballot measures this coming Election Day.

According to CNN, voters in Arizona, South Dakota, Montana, and New Jersey will consider proposals to legalize recreational marijuana, while Mississippi will decide on a pair of ballot questions that could legalize medical marijuana in that state.

Current polls show that the ballots initiatives have enough support in Arizona, Montana, and New Jersey.

So far, 33 states have already legalized medical cannabis, and 11 states have legalized recreational pot, including Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state.

The idea of imposing taxes on legal weed is looking more and more attractive to states at a time when most could use the revenue. Jurisdictions usually slap an excise tax, along with a state general sales tax, on their pot sales.

“It’s really showing the kind of breadth of acceptance that we’re seeing around the country with respect to cannabis,” said Steven Hawkins, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group that works with many of the ballot initiatives.

While cannabis use has increased drastically during the pandemic, Hawkins revealed that not every effort to get marijuana on the ballot this year was successful. The early stay-at-home orders affected signature drives’ attempts to gather enough support to place the questions on some states ballots.

“We lost the time needed to gather signatures, or else there would be six states,” Hawkins said, of the states considering full adult-use legalization this year.