PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVES WHO recently made a major donation to an anti-marijuana legalization campaign claimed they were doing so out of concern for the safety of children — but their investor filings reveal that pot poses a direct threat to their plans to cash in on a synthetic cannabis product they have developed.

On August 31, Insys Therapeutics Inc. donated $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, becoming the single largest donor to the group leading the charge to defeat a ballot measure in Arizona to legalize marijuana.

A new poll shows that a voter initiative to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Arizona is going to be a nail-biter.

Half of Arizona voters surveyed in a new poll favor legalizing marijuana for recreational use, while a sizable share remain undecided on the November ballot measure.

The Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite News poll found 50 percent of registered voters favor legalization, 40 percent oppose the measure and 10 percent are undecided. The poll surveyed 784 registered voters between Aug. 17 and Aug. 31. The margin of error is 3.4 percent.

If pot laws were colors, a map of the U.S. map would resemble a tie-dye T-shirt.

In some states, marijuana is illegal. In others, it's legal for medical purposes. And still in others, it is even legal for recreational use.

Recreational pot has been legal in Oregon now for a year, but it was a long time coming. Voters approved medicinal pot 20 years ago. Arizona is voting on it this fall – along with California, Nevada, Maine and Massachusetts. It was only six years ago that Arizona approved marijuana for medicinal use.

The Arizona measure is making some voters nervous. A group that includes two county attorneys even sued, unsuccessfully, to get it off the ballot.

There will be more than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the ballot this November, voters heading to the polls in nine states will also be deciding on Marijuana.

Collectively, these marijuana measures mean more voters will be weighing in on cannabis issues than any other year in American history.

Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn and his family opened Takoma Wellness Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in the District of Columbia three years ago.

The campaign to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Arizona is suing state officials over the description of the ballot measure, saying it is "inaccurate and misleading."

The lawsuit, brought by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, asks the Maricopa County Superior Court to order the removal of state officials' description of Proposition 205 from the voter publicity pamphlet. The secretary of state prepared the description of the ballot language for the pamphlet, and the attorney general approved it, according to the lawsuit.

In the beginning, of course, all the pot grew outside. 

When the colonists arrived in North America, they brought their love of cannabis with them. Cannabis is believed to have first been cultivated many thousands of years ago in the area north of the Himalayas. It has been prized by civilizations around the globe and used for medicine, textiles, nutrition, and religious ceremonies. After two millennia of human use, cannabis was an accepted part of many societies’ pharmacopeia.

By the 1800s, plantations had sprung up throughout the American colonies, dedicated to the growing of hemp for industrial purposes. Preparations of the plant could be found at many drug stores, and were an accepted product for medical use, even in children. 

It appears recreational marijuana will be on the ballot in Arizona come November.

When it comes to declassifying the illegal status of a drug, there's a lot to consider. Proposition 205 reflects that, answering some questions but leaving others to be determined.

If you don't want to read the entire initiative (or our story from earlier this week breaking it down), here are five key points from Prop 205:

1. Only in private

Language from supporters of the initiative often includes "like alcohol." You can't drink a beer on the street and you would not be able to smoke marijuana on the street, either. It would result in a $300 fine.

Before long, recreational marijuana could be legal in Arizona.

Proposition 205, which would legalize marijuana in the state, passed a legal hurdle last week when a judge rejected a challenge to the initiative by anti-legalization group Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.

The initiative's opponents, including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, are planning to appeal the decision, but there's a short timeline as mail-in ballots are scheduled to be printed within the next few weeks.

The group behind the initiative, Marijuana Policy Project, also worked to get legalization on the books in other states. The project's website states it is "responsible for changing most of the state marijuana laws that have been reformed since 2000."