Five States May Consider Marijuana Legalization Next Year

A marijuana legalization measure will be on the ballot in Nevada in 2016, Time reports. California, Massachusetts, Maine and Arizona are the states most likely to join Nevada in putting legalization measures before voters next year, advocates say.

Lawmakers in Nevada adjourned on Friday without voting on a petition to legalize marijuana and regulate it like alcohol, the article notes. This move ensures the measure will be on the ballot in 2016. Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have already legalized marijuana.

In California, legalization advocates are drafting a ballot initiative. “California was the first state to adopt a medical marijuana law and it inspired states around the country to adopt similar laws,” said Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Arizona, with many conservative voters, may be less likely to support a legalization measure. But that could be changing. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that among Republicans ages 18 to 34, almost two-thirds say they support marijuana legalization. Among Republicans ages 35 to 50, almost half approve legalization.

In 2013, voters in Portland, Maine, approved an initiative that legalized the recreational use of marijuana by adults 21 years or older, who can possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana. Portland became the first city on the East Coast to legalize marijuana. The initiative did not legalize the sale or purchase of marijuana, but allows adults 21 or older to “engage in activities for the purposes of ascertaining the possession of marijuana and paraphernalia.” The vote was largely symbolic, according to the magazine.

Massachusetts voters passed a measure in 2012 to legalize medical marijuana, after decriminalizing the drug in 2008. Last year, more than a dozen districts supported non-binding ballot measures that supported legalizing marijuana. The state legislature has heard testimony on a bill to legalize marijuana.