The Carnegie-Knight News21 program, a national multi-university reporting initiative headquartered at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, released a major investigation Sunday into the issues surrounding the legalization of marijuana in America.

Twenty-seven students from 19 universities traveled to more than 23 states and interviewed hundreds of individuals to report and produce “America’s Weed Rush.” The project is at weedrush.news21.com.

Portions of the investigation will be published by major media partners, including The Washington Post, nbcnews.com, the Center for Public Integrity, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the E.W. Scripps Co., Alabama Media Group and The Cincinnati Enquirer, plus a number of nonprofit online news sites affiliated with the Investigative News Network.

“This investigation goes beyond the general conversation of those who support and oppose the legalization of marijuana,” said News21 Executive Editor Jacquee Petchel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. “It takes you inside the lives of regular people...