A potential sea change in marijuana legislation is coming, with ballot measures in several states giving voters the opportunity to make it legal for adults.

Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Nevada will vote on legalizing recreational marijuana, while Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota are considering medical marijuana initiatives.

The marijuana industry could quadruple in size after the 2016 elections, according to a new study released Wednesday.

The Los Angeles-based cannabis firm MedMen projects legal pot sales in the U.S. could increase by $20.5 billion per year after voters in nine states weigh ballot measures that would legalize recreational marijuana.

"The potential of this industry is undeniable," MedMen CEO Adam Bierman said. "The question is how we make sure it is done in a safe, responsible and controlled manner."

The recreational use of marijuana has already been legalized in Colorado, Washington state, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington, D.C., and another 21 states permit medical marijuana.

Sheldon Adelson, the politically influential billionaire and Donald Trump supporter, is bankrolling the fight against marijuana legalization measures on several state ballots this year. Meanwhile, Adelson the philanthropist gave money to research that supports the medical use of marijuana.

With Arizona voters deciding on whether to legalize recreational marijuana this election, 12 News turned to Colorado as an example of what passing Proposition 205 could mean for the state.

Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012. And Colorado was the first state to begin selling to the public – commercial sales started on January 2014.

In Colorado, and under Arizona’s proposed law, adults 21 years and older can purchase, possess and grow small quantities of marijuana.

Colorado’s Pot Czar Andrew Freedman says it’s too soon to tell if the long-term benefits of legalized marijuana will outweigh the drawbacks. But we can share what they have learned so far.

Marijuana and the economy

With pot on the ballot in nine states, the big winner in next Tuesday's election could be America's legal cannabis industry. By 2020, legal market sales are expected to surpass $22 billion. And for states struggling with budget shortfalls, that extra revenue would be clearly welcome. 

Voters in five states — Arizona, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada — will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. Medical marijuana is on the ballot in Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and North Dakota. 

Supporters believe the marijuana measures will pass in California and Florida, and possibly several other states, because America's attitude about pot has changed significantly in the last few years. 

As Arizona voters prepare to vote on legalization, an anti-drug group paints a bleak picture of life in a neighboring state.

Lawmakers in Colorado on Monday asked an anti-marijuana campaign in Arizona to stop airing ads that they say contain false information about their state and could mislead voters who will be deciding on recreational legalization of the drug next week. 

State Sen. Pat Steadman (D) and Democratic state Reps. Millie Hamner and Johnathan Singer wrote an email to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy leaders to call out ads the group has run. They say the TV spots contain “inaccurate and misleading statements” about the use of legal marijuana tax revenue in Colorado as well as rates of teen drug use.

When tackling today’s major issues, we can learn a lot from history.

For example, when Congress was debating marijuana prohibition in 1937, Dr. William C. Woodward, president of the American Medical Association, argued strenuously against it. Dr. Walter Musto, the assistant Surgeon General, told Congress marijuana “does not produce dependence … it probably belongs in the same category as alcohol.”

Sadly, as is often the case, Congress was more susceptible to political rather than economic and scientific considerations, so marijuana prohibition was enacted.

Marijuana is safer than alcohol

But Dr. Musto was wrong. Marijuana does not belong “in the same category as alcohol.”

Nearly 60 million Americans may wake up Nov. 9 to find voters in their states have abolished long-standing marijuana prohibitions, a three-fold expansion for legal cannabis across the country.

Another 24 million Americans could find themselves in states with newly legal medical marijuana use, a smaller but still significant expansion of legalized pot around the United States. Already, half of the states permit some form of medical marijuana use, and more than half of all Americans live in a state that has approved medical marijuana.

The movement to legalize marijuana, the country’s most popular illicit drug, will take a giant leap on Election Day if California and four other states vote to allow recreational cannabis, as polls suggest they may.    – “Election May Be a Turning Point for Legal Marijuana,” The New York Times, Oct 24, 2016

Aphria announced today that it has entered into an Intellectual Property transfer agreement with Copperstate Farms, LLC ("Copperstate"). Arizona's medical cannabis program was approved by voters in 2010. At the same time as securing a licence to produce and sell medical cannabis, Copperstate purchased a 40-acre (equivalent to 1.7 million square feet) high-tech, Dutch style greenhouse facility in Snowflake, AZ. Copperstate has one of the largest medical cannabis greenhouse facilities in Arizona.