With five states voting on marijuana legalization next month, this is a pivotal year for marijuana policy no matter which way the contests turn out. The results will determine whether marijuana reform gains momentum heading into the next presidential administration or whether the pace of change will slow.

Even by the usual standards of politics, this election’s campaign against marijuana legalization has made strange bedfellows. The largest donors to the various anti-weed political groups around the country include a billionaire casino tycoon, a woman who believes in reefer madness, a drug-crusading former U.S. ambassador, cops, prison guards, booze merchants, and a pharma company that sells the powerful painkiller fentanyl.

To the red-and-blue map of American politics, it may be time to add green. 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.

The map of where pot is legal could include the entire West Coast and a block of states reaching from the Pacific to Colorado, raising a stronger challenge to the federal government’s ban on the drug.

In addition to California, Massachusetts and Maine both have legalization initiatives on the ballot next month that seem likely to pass. Arizona and Nevada are also voting on recreational marijuana, with polls showing Nevada voters evenly split.

Not too long ago, if you wanted to ingest cannabis, you were going to either smoke it or eat it using some traditional method. Now, we’ve got vaporizers, tinctures, wax, and so on. Innovative marijuana companies are constantly coming up with new and interesting ways to medicate with the plant. One of the most interesting ways to ingest cannabis that I’ve ever seen has got to be the new “Vapen Clear” inhaler from the Arizona company Vapen. Up until now, Vapen has mostly sold tech products used for the delivery of cannabis. The Vapen Clear appears to be the first of its kind and is unlike anything we’ve seen.

If you’re on the fence about whether to vote yes or no on Proposition 205—the Nov. 8 ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona—you’re not getting a lot of useful information through one-minute TV ads.

You’re probably not inclined to slog through the initiative’s 20 pages of legal jargon, either.

Fortunately, Will Humble has done that. He developed the regulations for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act as former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. At a recent Mini-Medical School lecture at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, Humble impartially broke down Prop. 205 into everyday language.

The legalization of marijuana decision in Arizona is only weeks away, so many companies and politicians are trying to get their last endorsements in as Election Day draws near.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and U-Haul International Inc. are just the latest to join the fight against Proposition 205, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.

Ducey sent out a campaign email opposing the legalization of marijuana in his state, as he doesn’t want there to be problems like he said Colorado has to deal with.

Elections aside, the marijuana industry has had an incredible run over the past two decades.

Prior to the 1996 approval of a compassionate use medical cannabis law in California, marijuana was illegal in all aspects (medical and recreational), and public support for nationwide legalization stood at just 25% per Gallup. Fast-forward to today and 25 states have legalized medical cannabis, with four states, as well as Washington D.C., legalizing the purchase of recreational marijuana for adults ages 21 and up. It's worth noting that the two most recent states to legalize medical marijuana -- Pennsylvania and Ohio -- did so entirely through the legislative process. Furthermore, public support for nationwide legalization tied an all-time high in Gallup's 2015 poll at 58%.

Arizona residents can vote to legalize recreational marijuana with Proposition 205 on Nov. 8. If passed, Proposition 205 would decriminalize marijuana, regulating the substance like alcohol, legal for individuals over 21. 

Carlos Alfaro, deputy campaign manager for the Yes on 205 Campaign, supports this decriminalization.

"I support Prop. 205 because I believe in personal liberty," Alfaro said. "I think it's unnecessary and ridiculous that we're arresting 15,000 adults in Arizona for simple marijuana possession. Prop. 205 is the best way to help that because not only would it be legalizing it, it would be ending prohibition and [it would be] giving money to our public schools by taxing marijuana."

People in nine states, including California, Florida and Massachusetts, will vote Nov. 8 on ballot proposals permitting recreational or medical use of marijuana. These initiatives could give a big push to legalization, prompting the next president and Congress to overhaul the country’s failed drug laws.

This is a big moment for what was a fringe movement a few years ago. A Gallup poll released on Wednesday showed 60 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, up from 31 percent in 2000 and 12 percent in 1969.