So far, four states have legalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use -- Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon. Now it looks like two more states are poised to join them.The two states, located at opposite ends of the country, are California and Maine. If passed, the petitions in the two states would legalize small amounts of marijuana for the recreational use of adults, and it would tax the sale of that legal marijuana.
In California, the coalition for legalization has collected more than 600,000 signatures. It only needed to submit 365,880 signatures to get on the ballot. I think there's a very good chance that the petition will be passed by California voters in November.
In Maine, 61,123 signatures were needed, and more than enough were submitted. But officials rejected about 17,000 signatures without vetting each one to make sure they were valid. The legalization initiative went to court, and the state court ordered the Maine Secretary of State to check all of the rejected signatures. The Secretary of State has now announced that enough signatures were gathered, and the legalization petition will be on the November ballot. A recent MPRC Poll in Maine showed that 54% of voters favored legalization.
