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.

Next month, Greenspoon Marder is holding its “First Annual Cannabis Law and Business Conference.”

With panel discussions on finance, land use and zoning, legalization vs. decriminalization, the firm is hoping to attract 200 attorneys and so-called “Ganjapreneurs” (in practice lingo) to its Nov. 4 conference in Florida — just a few days before voters there look at a ballot initiative to legal marijuana.

A Boston city councilor wants to make sure minority-owned businesses get a fair shot if retail marijuana sales become legal in Massachusetts.

Councilor Ayanna Pressley has scheduled a hearing for Monday evening at Boston City Hall to discuss ways of providing equitable access to licensing opportunities and jobs in the commercial marijuana industry.

Question 4 on the November ballot would legalize recreational pot in Massachusetts.

It includes a unique provision that would require marijuana regulators to develop policies aimed to help "communities that have previously been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement."

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%.

The Nevada Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, and the Massachusetts’ campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, both unveiled new television ads yesterday in support of their initiatives to legalize recreational cannabis.

“Our opponents are attempting to scare Nevadans into opposing Question 2″, says Joe Brezny, a spokesperson the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

“What our opponents would like the public to forget is that our current system poses the greatest danger to our communities. We currently have criminals profiting from selling marijuana on streets to people of all ages.”

That new ad trying to scare voters into opposing Question 4 is so over the top, so replete with retro alarmism, it’s kind of adorable.

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.

Business owners are replacing idealists in the pot-legalization movement as the nascent marijuana industry creates a broad base of new donors, many of them entrepreneurs willing to spend to change drug policy.

Unlike in the past, these supporters are not limited to a few wealthy people seeking change for personal reasons. They constitute a bigger coalition of business interests. And their support provides a significant financial advantage for pro-legalization campaigns.

“It’s mainly a social-justice movement. But undoubtedly there are business interests at work, which is new in this movement,” said Kayvan Khalatbari, a one-time pot-shop owner and now head of a Denver marijuana consulting firm.

As Massachusetts voters get set to decide if recreational marijuana should be legalized, millions of dollars have been flowing into the state seeking to sway the result.

And as Nov. 8 approaches, look for the commercial airwaves, and your social media feed, to contain more and more advertisements for and against Question 4.

For the last two years, proponents of Question 4 have been amassing nearly $4 million advocating for legalization. Last month, more than 80 percent of expenditures went straight into television ads.

Marijuana users may believe that frequent use helps them sleep, but that perception has been challenged by a BU School of Public Health study.