California, Nevada, Maine, Massachusetts and Arizona will be voting to legalize marijuana for recreational use, while North Dakota, Florida and Arkansas will vote on legalizing medical marijuana. Montana will vote to limit restrictions on its existing medical marijuana law.
Fifty-seven percent of U.S. adults support marijuana legalization, while 37 percent say it should be illegal, according to a 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center.
Dale Gieringer, director of the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said groups have been working to get the California measure, Proposition 64, on the ballot since Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012.
“Pretty much everyone involved in cannabis reform had been planning to move in this direction for a while,” he said.
Bill Downing, member liaison for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, said his organization has been working on public education campaigns about the benefits of cannabis since the 1990s.
NORML is working to educate people on the intricacies of the measure, Gieringer said.
“We’re reaching out to persuade them that it’s in the interest of California and the rest of the country to go ahead and pass this initiative,” he said.
Scott Chipman, Southern California co-chairperson of Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana, said in an email the ballot provision in California was funded by two billionaires.
