Image copyright Reuters Image caption Cannabis, already legal for medical use in California, is now cleared for recreation

Maine has joined California, Nevada and Massachusetts in backing recreational marijuana use in state-wide polls.

The votes, which took place alongside the presidential election, legalise the growth and consumption of cannabis for those over 21 years old.

Arizona rejected legalising recreational use. Florida and North Dakota legalised medicinal use.

The drug will be an option in the management of conditions including cancer, Aids and hepatitis C.

California said the taxes on the sale and farming of cannabis would support youth programmes, environmental protection and law enforcement.

'Reckless disregard'

In other ballot initiatives across the US on election night:

Colorado voters approved a measure allowing assisted dying for the terminally ill through "medication that can be self-administered" - five other states have similar laws

Nebraska reinstated the death penalty, overturning the state legislature's move last year to repeal capital punishment

Oklahoma gave its capital punishment law constitutional protection, meaning it cannot be declared cruel and unusual punishment by state courts

California voters rejected a proposal to make porn stars wear condoms in all their sex on-set scenes

Arizona, Colorado and Maine voters approved a $12 (£9.60) minimum hourly wage by 2020, and Washington state raised it to $13.50 - the federal hourly minimum wage is $7.25

Legal marijuana is among the fastest growing industries in America, with some analysts suggesting sales could reach $22bn (£17.6bn) by 2020.

Opponents, however, had said the proposition opened the way for promotion of the drug on shows watched by young people, exhibiting "reckless disregard for child health and safety".

In Massachusetts, the legislation is set to take effect in December, with similar taxation measures to those in California.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A volunteer displays jars of dried cannabis buds at a medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles

California was one of the first states to legalise the drug for medicinal purposes in 1996.

On Tuesday, voters in Florida and North Dakota followed suit, making medicinal use legal in a majority of US states.

Many states used the general election as an opportunity to put a range of questions to the public on matters such as tax, the minimum wage or the death penalty. </s> Voters in the Great Lakes State decided Tuesday to make Michigan Great Lakes Baked.

Proposal 1, which would legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older in the state, was headed for victory at the time of publication early Wednesday: 57 percent of votes were in favor of the ballot question and 43 percent were against it with 64 percent of precincts reporting.

Michigan’s transition to a recreational marijuana market comes in a midterm election that has a tangible effect on the rapidly emerging business of legal cannabis.

North Dakota’s Measure 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older and created an automatic expungement process for past marijuana convictions, was roundly defeated.

The ballot question was rejected by voters, with 59.4 percent against, 40.6 percent in favor and 94 percent of precincts reporting, according to The New York Times.

In Utah, Proposition 2 to legalize medical marijuana was ahead at the time of publication, at 54 percent “yes” to 46 percent “no” and 62 percent of precincts reporting.

Missouri voters approved Amendment 2 — one of three medical marijuana proposals on the ballot Tuesday — which legalizes medical marijuana and taxes it at a 4-percent rate. The revenue will be dedicated to veterans’ health care.

The amendment passed with 65.3 percent of the vote and 95 percent of precincts reporting, according to The New York Times.

“Voters in Michigan sent a resounding rebuke to their state’s failed policy of prohibition and elected to follow a new, more sensible path of regulation and legalization,” Erik Altieri, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a late Tuesday statement.

At a forum on Proposal 1 last month in Detroit, former White House drug policy advisor Kevin Sabet said Michigan’s recreational marijuana law is wide-open.

"It's about money and profits for a small amount of people," Sabet said.

With ballot proposals in four states that held the potential for the creation of new legal cannabis markets of varying degrees, marijuana stocks rallied during Tuesday's trading session:
• Canopy Growth Corp (NYSE: CGC) was up 5.95 percent at $42.59 at the close.
• Cronos Group Inc (NASDAQ: CRON) was 9.7 percent higher at $9.05.

Michigan voters previously OK’ed the legalization of medical marijuana via a 2008 ballot initiative, and the state has the second-largest medical patient base in the country, according to the Marijuana Business Daily factbook.

Proposal 1, the “Michigan Marijuana Legalization Initiative,” allows adults over 21 to possess, consume and grow cannabis. In Michigan, ballot initiatives take effect 10 days after election results are certified.

The initiative allows residents to grow up to 12 plants for personal use and possess up to 10 ounces at home, with amounts over 2.5 ounces stored in a locked container. The proposal taxes recreational cannabis at a 10-percent rate and creates a statewide regulatory system that allows communities to ban or restrict marijuana businesses.

Michigan’s Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs must begin accepting applications for marijuana retail stores within a year of Proposal 1’s effective date.

Benzinga, which recently brought 600 investors to Toronto for the first-ever Cannabis Capital Conference, is hosting the Michigan Cannabis Business Roundtable at its Detroit headquarters Friday, Nov. 9.

Click here for more information and tickets to the first event focused on the cannabis space after Tuesday’s affirmative vote.

Pot Stocks, ETFs, Top News And Data From The Cannabis Industry This Week

2 Stocks That Could Benefit From Marijuana Legalization In Michigan </s> Marijuana was on track to be one of the winners of an otherwise bitterly divisive presidential election campaign, as voters in several states appeared ready to support measures that would permit some legal use of the drug.

Legalized marijuana was the most common among a raft of ballot measures – 162 in 35 states – on policy issues ranging from gun control to the death penalty.

Voters in three of the most populous states – California, Florida and Massachusetts – backed plans to relax marijuana laws. Voters in California and Massachusetts supported legalizing marijuana for recreational use, while Floridians supported measures to expand the number of conditions that can be treated with medical marijuana.

Early results also showed support for legalizing recreational marijuana use in Maine and Nevada, even as Arizona voters appeared poised to reject the idea. North Dakota backed support for medical marijuana, with preliminary returns showing support for similar proposals in Arkansas and Montana.

Pot stocks have surged in the past three months as investors predicted the election would significantly boost support for legalized marijuana, according to the Marijuana Index, a benchmark that tracks North American publicly traded stocks that are tied to the industry. Public opinion on the issue has changed swiftly. A Gallup poll last month showed 60 per cent of U.S. adults support legalizing marijuana, up from 44 per cent in 2009.

California became the first U.S. state to legalize medical marijuana in 1996. But it has only been in recent years that states have begun to allow residents to possess or grow small amounts of the drug. Colorado and Washington became the first to vote to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012.

Four states and Washington, D.C., have since legalized recreational marijuana, while another 21 states now allow doctors to prescribe cannabis for medical reasons. Several states have decriminalized the drug by scrapping jail sentences for people caught carrying small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

Ballot initiatives – state-level referendums that allow residents to vote directly on policy issues – have fallen below the radar during the high-stakes presidential election. But they have historically proven to be important barometers of shifting public sentiment on social issues that have deadlocked Congress and state legislatures. This year, interest groups spent more than $900-million (U.S.) on ballot-measure campaigns, according to website Ballotpedia, which tracks the state referendums.

As both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump signalled support to raise the federal minimum wage above the current $7.25, voters in Arizona supported a measure to gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $12 by 2020, with early results showing voters poised to support similar measures in Colorado and Maine. In Washington state, early returns showed voters set to hike the minimum to $13.50 an hour. Arizona voters also approved a plan to require employers to offer paid sick leave, which has been a contentious issue in the state legislature. In South Dakota, meanwhile, voters rejected an initiative proposing to roll back minimum wage from $8.50 to $7.50 for workers under the age of 18.

Gun control has remained a divisive issue for presidential candidates, but in the wake of deadly mass shootings in Orlando and San Bernardino, voters in four states faced proposals for new firearm restrictions.

Early returns show voters in Maine and Nevada poised to reject measures requiring mandatory background checks for private gun sales. Preliminary returns pointed to Californians supporting bans on large-capacity magazines and background checks for ammunition sales, while in Washington State, early voting signalled support for a measure allowing courts to issue “extreme protection orders” that would prohibit potentially dangerous people from accessing firearms based on the concerns of police or family members.

Voters also faced decisions on the future of capital punishment in the United States, which last year saw the lowest level of new death penalty convictions and executions in decades, according to the non-profit Death Penalty Information Center.

In California, voters faced two opposing measures on the death penalty, which has remained legal in the state despite a decade-long moratorium on executions. Early results pointed to voters rejecting a measure to outlaw capital punishment, while supporting a separate proposal to speed up the review and appeal process by imposing a time limit on death-row cases. Oklahoma, where botched executions triggered a moratorium on death-row cases and a Supreme Court ruling on the issue last year, approved a measure to enshrine the right to execute prisoners in the state’s constitution.

In Nebraska, where legislators overturned the death penalty last year, voters backed a plan by Governor Pete Ricketts to reinstate the practice. Colorado, the lone state to hold a vote on euthanasia, legalized physician-assisted death for terminally ill patients with six months or less to live.

The Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, was a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign, but state-level ballots saw few debates over health care. Colorado rejected a plan to create a universal health care plan financed through a 10-per-cent payroll tax.

Some of the most contentious votes did not involve traditionally divisive social issues. In Florida, voters shot down an initiative that would have enshrined the right of consumers to generate their own power through solar energy. Solar power advocates complained that the measure was actually an electricity industry policy in disguise because it contains language that would restrict the rights of consumers and companies to sell excess power back into the grid.

In Alabama, where Governor Robert Bentley faces impeachment proceedings after allegations of improper relationship with a top political aide, voters were set to narrowly approve a measure requiring state’s Senate to have a two-thirds majority vote to impeach a top official.

Arkansas voters struck down a 102-year-old law that requires sitting governors to temporarily give up their political powers to the lieutenant governor if they travel out of the state. The issue emerged after former Republican Lieutenant Governor Mark Darr used the antiquated rule in 2013 to pass a law exempting public disclosure of gun-permit holders while then-Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, was in Washington D.C. for a convention.

Voters in Oklahoma supported banning the use of government property for religious purposes. The proposal comes after the state’s Supreme Court ruled last year that a Ten Commandments monument be removed from the grounds of the legislature. </s> Republican Gov. Phil Scott is vetoing legislation that would have made Vermont the ninth state in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana, and the first to do so by an act of the Legislature, as opposed to a ballot initiative.

Opponents and supporters of the legalization effort had been waiting on tenterhooks since the bill arrived on the governor's desk last week. Scott has been non-committal about what he’d do with the bill, saying he’s “not ideologically opposed” to legalization, but that he has serious concerns about the impact of more permissive cannabis laws on highway safety.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Scott said concerns from medical professionals, law enforcement officials and other constituencies opposed to the bill convinced him that now is not the right time for Vermont to move forward with legalization.

The Vermont Association of Police Chiefs sent a letter to Scott on May 4, urging him to veto the legislation. Representatives of Vermont Medical Society, Vermont American Academy of Pediatrics and Vermont Children’s Hospital have also expressed concerns directly to the governor.

Scott’s decision extends a tumultuous legislative process for a bill that would have legalized possession of up to an ounce of marijuana, and allowed for cultivation of up to two mature cannabis plants. The legislation would have taken effect in July of 2018.

The House and Senate had been split on what kind legalization framework is best for Vermont. The Senate favors a “tax and regulate” approach, with licensed growers and state-sanctioned retail outlets.

The House, meanwhile, supported a law similar to one in place in Washington, D.C., which removes all criminal and civil sanctions for possession of small amounts of marijuana, but leaves in place prohibitions against sales and large growing operations.

Until recently, it appeared the two chambers would be unable to resolve those competing philosophies this year. But a late-session compromise bill — it would have adopted the House framework, but created a commission to study a tax and regulate approach — won support in both chambers.

While the Senate might have the votes to override the governor’s veto, the same is not true in the House, which passed the bill by a vote of 79 to 66. The House needs 100 votes to override a veto.

Vermont would have joined Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Colorado, Alaska, Maine, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia as the only jurisdictions to have legalized recreational use of marijuana. Another 19 states have legalized medical marijuana.

This story will be updated.

Correction 12:51 p.m. The original version of this story incorrectly reported that Vermont would have been the seventh state in the country to legalize recreational marijuana. Vermont would have been the ninth. </s> Vermont Governor Phil Scott has vetoed S. 22, legislation that would have legalized cannabis in the state for adults over the age of 21. The libertarian-leaning governor sent the law back to the legislature to develop clauses that further protect the health and safety of his constituents, he said in a press conference.

The proposed bill – which would have been the first to legalize cannabis through a legislative process rather than a ballot initiative – would have allowed adults to possess up to an ounce of weed, two mature plants and four immature plants. It also would have established a study commission to look at cannabis tax-and-regulate models in other states and make recommendations for how Vermont should set up its own market.

Though Scott said that he saw a "clear societal shift" on the issue, and reiterated his support for medical marijuana, he said that he was not convinced this bill went far enough to protect Vermonters from intoxicated drivers, and local children from being exposed to use of the drug. He announced that he was sending the bill back to the legislature with specific suggestions on how to amend it during the summer session.

"Despite the veto, this is a huge leap forward," said Matt Simon, New England political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, in a statement released Wednesday. "The passage of S. 22 demonstrates most members of both legislative chambers are ready to move forward with making marijuana legal for adults. Lawmakers have an opportunity to address the governor’s concerns and pass a revised bill this summer, and we are excited about its prospects."



Medicinal cannabis has been legal in Vermont since 2004, when then-Governor James Douglas allowed a bill passed in the state legislature to become law without his signature. In 2013, Vermont decriminalized possession of one ounce or less of cannabis, but a May 2016 effort to fully legalize, tax and regulate it failed when the Vermont House voted against a Senate-passed plan.

According to a recent RAND corporation study, 80,000 Vermonters use cannabis regularly, while a separate Public Policy Polling survey of 755 registered Vermont voters found that 57 percent support legalization while only 39 were opposed. 



Maine and Massachusetts voted to legalize cannabis last November along with successful ballot initiatives in California and Nevada. Despite the continued shift in attitudes towards marijuana and America's larger drug policies, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently threatened to go after the cannabis industry in legal states. </s> Adult recreational users of weed will be able to use it legally in another state.

Michigan voters made their state the first in the Midwest to legalize recreational marijuana by passing a ballot measure that will allow people 21 or older to buy and use the drug.

According to preliminary results, more than 54% of voters in Michigan said yes to the initiative that imposes a 10-ounce limit for Michigan residents, creates a state licensing system, will allow for retail sales subject to a 10% tax and changes several current weed-related violations to civil infractions.

A similar measure was defeated in North Dakota, meaning there are now 10 states that allow recreational use of pot — Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington — plus the District of Columbia. </s> The arrival of the new year in California has brought with it broad legalisation of marijuana, a much-anticipated change that comes two decades after the state was the first to allow pot for medical use.

The arrival of the new year in California has brought with it broad legalisation of marijuana, a much-anticipated change that comes two decades after the state was the first to allow pot for medical use.

Cannabis now legal in California for recreational use

Pot is now legal in California for adults aged 21 and older, and individuals can grow up to six plants and possess as much as an ounce of the drug. But finding a retail outlet to buy non-medical pot in California will not be easy, at least initially.

Los Angeles and San Francisco are among the many cities where recreational pot will not be available straight away because local regulations were not approved in time to start issuing city licences needed to get state permits. Fresno, Bakersfield and Riverside are among the communities that have adopted laws forbidding recreational marijuana sales.

For those who worked for this day to come, the shift offered joyful relief. "We're thrilled," said Khalil Moutawakkil, founder of KindPeoples, which grows and sells weed in Santa Cruz.

"We can talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of the specific regulations, but at the end of the day it's a giant step forward, and we'll have to work out the kinks as we go."

The first attempt to undo that by voter initiative in 1972 failed, but three years later felony possession of less than an ounce was downgraded to a misdemeanour. In 1996, over the objections of law enforcement, Bill Clinton's drug tsar and three former presidents, California voters approved marijuana for medicinal purposes.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalise recreational marijuana. Since then, five more states have passed recreational marijuana laws, including Massachusetts, where retail sales are scheduled to begin in July. Even with other states as models, the next year is expected to be a bumpy one in California as more shops open and more stringent regulations take effect on the strains known as Sweet Skunk, Trainwreck and Russian Assassin.

The California Police Chiefs Association, which opposed the 2016 ballot measure, remains concerned about stoned drivers, the risk to young people and the cost of policing the new rules in addition to an existing black market. "There's going to be a public health cost and a public safety cost enforcing these new laws and regulations," said Jonathan Feldman, a legislative advocate for the chiefs. "It remains to be seen if this can balance itself out."

At first, pot shops will be able to sell marijuana harvested without full regulatory controls. But eventually the state will require extensive testing for potency, pesticides and other contaminants. A programme to track all pot from seed to sale will be phased in, along with other protections such as childproof containers.

Jamie Garzot, founder of the 530 Cannabis shop in northern California's Shasta Lake, said she is concerned that when the current crop dries up, there will be a shortage of marijuana that meets state regulations. Her outlet happens to be close to some of California's most productive marijuana-growing areas, but most of the surrounding counties will not allow cultivation that could supply her. "Playing in the grey market is not an option," Ms Garzot said.

"California produces more cannabis than any state in the nation, but going forward, if it's not from a state-licensed source, I can't put it on my shelf. "If I choose to do so, I run the risk of losing my licence." In 2016, the state produced an estimated 13.5 million pounds of pot, and 80% was illegally shipped out of state, according to a report prepared for the state by ERA Economics, an environmental and agricultural consulting firm.

Of the remaining 20 per cent, only a quarter was sold legally for medicinal purposes. That robust black market is expected to continue to thrive, particularly as taxes and fees raise the cost of retail pot by as much as 70pc. </s> California is the sixth state to introduce the sale of recreational marijuana, after Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Nevada. Massachusetts and potentially Maine are expected to begin sales later this year.

Legalization here may further raise tensions between the state and federal drug enforcement officials led by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a vocal opponent of legalization. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration considers marijuana a Schedule 1 drug, the same category as heroin.

National opinion polls have shown a gradual and steady approval of legalization. Californians voted for recreational use of the drug by a 57-43 percent margin in a November 2016 ballot initiative. The law prohibits smoking in public, although such bans are already commonplace in California cities.

Unlike the other states that have legalized, California has a vast industry producing the drug, much of which is illegally sold across state lines. By one estimate, California produces seven times more marijuana than it consumes.

Legalization here will test whether that vast black market of growers, many of whom have been reluctant to join the legal market, will come out of the shadows.

It is unclear how much legalization will increase consumption of the drug in California. Since 1996 marijuana has been available from medical dispensaries for adults with an easily obtainable recommendation card. And even those without medical cards have had little fear of prosecution. It has been many years since police officers in California made arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana, according to Jennifer Tejada, chairwoman of the law and legislative committee of the California Police Chief Association.

Jonathan Duenas, a college student and one of the cannabis customers in Oakland on Monday, said he had come for the novelty but probably would not return.

"I have a friend who grows it," he said. "I can get it much cheaper."

Even as more cities in California prepare to issue cannabis licenses, a number of questions remain about the effects and implementation of the new laws.

The head of the Bureau of Cannabis Control has raised concerns that there may not be enough licensed cannabis distributors in the early days of retail sales. A similarly bumpy rollout took place in Nevada in July when Gov. Brian Sandoval took emergency measures to combat a shortage of legal marijuana soon after legal sales began.

Opponents of legalization warn that California could see an increase in traffic deaths, as appears to have happened in Colorado since stores in that state began selling recreational cannabis four years ago.

Traffic deaths in Colorado involving drivers who tested positive for marijuana more than doubled from 2013 to 2016, according to a study published by a federal government agency in October. The report also noted a 35 percent increase in emergency room visits related to marijuana.

California has not yet adopted a standard measure for marijuana impairment, an issue highlighted on Christmas Eve when a California highway patrolman was killed after a man whom police said was driving under the influence of both alcohol and marijuana rammed into the back of the officer's vehicle. </s> Marijuana advocates scored a number of substantial ballot victories in the middle of the country on Election Day, chief among them the legalization of recreational marijuana in Michigan, which becomes the 10th state in the nation to approve recreational use of the drug.

“Michigan will be the first state in the Midwest to end marijuana prohibition and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated for adult use,” Marijuana Policy Project deputy director Matthew Schweich, who directed the legalization campaign, said in a statement. “Adults will no longer be punished for consuming a substance less harmful than alcohol, and rather than having to resort to the illegal market, they will be able to access it safely and legally from licensed businesses.”

The results in Michigan follow the opening of recreational marijuana markets in Canada and the repeal of marijuana prohibition in Mexico. With the addition of Michigan, nearly 80 million Americans — 25 percent of the total U.S. population — live in a state or jurisdiction that has legalized recreational marijuana. The most recent polling by Gallup shows that two-thirds of American adults support legalization of the drug.

In deep-red North Dakota, on the other hand, voters overwhelmingly rejected an unusual bill that would have legalized marijuana without setting any possession limits or regulatory structure. The outcome in North Dakota underscores Republican skepticism of legalization — in the Gallup survey just 53 percent of Republicans nationwide said they supported marijuana legalization, compared to 71 percent of independent voters and 75 percent of Democrats.

“Tonight, parents can sleep easy knowing their children won’t wake up to more marijuana use in their schools,” said Luke Niforatos, senior policy adviser to Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group that opposes legalization. “The sensible, wonderful people of North Dakota have rejected marijuana commercialization in their state.”

Elsewhere on the ballot tonight, voters in Missouri approved one out of three medical marijuana measures up for consideration, avoiding a potentially messy fight over which measure would go into law if more than one passed. Missouri’s Amendment 2 allows doctors to recommend marijuana for a number of medical conditions. Patients would be able to obtain the drug either through a dispensary or by growing it at home.

As of this writing, a medical marijuana measure in Utah is leading 53-47 with 76 percent of precincts reporting. That comes after supporters and opponents of the bill struck a deal with Utah’s governor to call a special section of the legislature to write a compromise bill regardless of whether the measure passed. Supporters of the bill agreed to the compromise because lawmakers in Utah are able to overturn ballot propositions with a simple majority vote.
Notable propositions are passed in several states including legal recreational marijuana in California, Massachusetts, and Nevada; medical marijuana in Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota; tougher firearms restrictions in California and Washington state; physician assisted suicide in Colorado, and the reimposition of capital punishment in Nebraska.