By the end of this year, several more states in the U.S. could be among those who have legalized cannabis for medical and recreational purposes. Of course, their success is up to the activists and voters in each state. If you’re in one of these states, here is what you need to know.

States where recreational legalization is on the ballot: Nevada

States where medical legalization is on the ballot: Florida

States where activists are going through the legislature or attempting to make the ballot for recreational or medical legalization: California, Vermont, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, Rhode Island, Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas

Long Shots

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin wants to legalize marijuana in the Green Mountain State before Massachusetts because he does not want the Bay State’s “bad pot bill” to negatively influence his state.

Shumlin expressed his views in a blog post entitled The Time is Now to Take a Smarter Approach to Marijuana on his official website.

Shumlin is criticizing the Massachusetts ballot initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana because it includes marijuana edibles. Marijuana-laced items can include food such as gummy bears and brownies.  The bill Shumlin supports in Vermont would ban edibles.

If Massachusetts voters approve an expected ballot measure this fall legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, the state could become home to a $1.1 billion cannabis industry by 2020, according to a report.

The research, released last week by the marijuana data and investment firms ArcView Market Research and New Frontier , predicts the advent of legal marijuana would make Massachusetts a thriving hub of “canna-tourism” in the Northeast, depending on whether neighboring states also legalize marijuana.

Host agreements signed between cities and marijuana dispensaries are supposed to smooth out any issues with the new business opening. But more towns are asking for cash up front and a sales cut in exchange for an essential part of the license application.

Before Worcester’s first medical marijuana dispensary sells one gram, city coffers will be on their way to seeing a lot more green.

The Massachusetts state senator who chairs a special committee on marijuana came out against legalizing the substance, warning voters about the proposed initiative on track for the November statewide ballot.

"I am opposed to the likely ballot question because this is the wrong time for Massachusetts to go down this road, and a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take," Sen. Jason Lewis, a Winchester Democrat and a former McKinsey & Company consultant, told the Boston Globe.

Ever wonder how your state stands up to the others in terms of marijuana tolerance? We don't mean how much your state can smoke, but how tolerant the locals are toward cannabis. The real-estate website Estately has the answer. 

Using specialized metrics, they put together rankings for all 50 states in their "Marijuana Enthusiasm Index." The criteria are: the percentage of monthly marijuana users, the average price of cannabis, the average number of marijuana-related Google searches, the legal status of marijuana and expressions of public interest (based on Facebook user data). 

Here are five interesting findings.

For a year, state Senator Jason M. Lewis maintained strict neutrality as he studied marijuana legalization — interviewing 50-plus experts, scouring the research, and observing firsthand a state where it is legal. But now he is speaking out against the expected November referendum in Massachusetts.

His position carries special weight. Lewis chairs the special legislative committee on marijuana.

His concerns, voiced just after his committee submitted its report on the topic, arise from his role as both a father and a public official, he said.

“I am opposed to the likely ballot question because this is the wrong time for Massachusetts to go down this road, and a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take,” the Winchester Democrat said.

For a year, state Senator Jason M. Lewis maintained strict neutrality as he studied marijuana legalization — interviewing 50-plus experts, scouring the research, and observing firsthand a state where it is legal. But now he is speaking out against the expected November referendum in Massachusetts.

His position carries special weight. Lewis chairs the special legislative committee on marijuana.

His concerns, voiced just after his committee submitted its report on the topic, arise from his role as both a father and a public official, he said.

“I am opposed to the likely ballot question because this is the wrong time for Massachusetts to go down this road, and a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take,” the Winchester Democrat said.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts took the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day holiday as a way to start promoting their campaign for the November Ballots. The group has aired their first billboard advertisement this week (it launched Monday March 14th) and it will run through the 20th.

When it comes to trying to convince those against legalization that it is the right thing to do we often turn to the argument that marijuana is safer than alcohol – and while that is the truth, some people still just don’t want to hear it.

Well this St. Patrick’s Day a strategically planned billboard will be reminding thousands – including many Massachusetts lawmakers – that marijuana is safer than alcohol.

Dr. Raphael Mechoulam to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at CannMed 2016 Conference in Cambridge, MA in April Courtagen Life Sciences,Inc.
Posted on: 15 Mar 16