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Next States Most Likely to Legalize Marijuana

Marijuana Legalization 2014

2014 is shaping up to be a big year for marijuana law reform. Here are a few of the states that might be joining Colorado and Washington’s new stance on marijuana legalization, as well as a couple more that will potentially be legalizing marijuana for medical purposes:

Alaska

Alaska is a state leaning towards the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes.  While it’s still early on, the Marijuana Policy Project is confident that their fundraising efforts will help win over the public opinion.

Marijuana legalization was on the ballot in both 2000 and 2004 in Alaska, but this time around the voting demographic seems to be shifting their stance after seeing how well Colorado and Washington have adapted.

Oregon

Oregon is looking to give it another go after having recreational marijuana legalization on the ballot just two short years ago, but they are going to get another shot at it this November.

Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to decriminalize personal possession of marijuana back in 1973 and was also one of the first states to legalize medical marijuana.

With many of the same people that helped fund the Washington and Colorado initiatives on board with helping the Oregon cause, their future is looking mighty bright.

District of Columbia

The nation’s capital has just submitted twice the required numbers of signatures to get marijuana on the ballot for legalization this November.  If it passes, adults will be permitted to possess up to two ounces of marijuana in D.C.

There are still a number of hurdles that activists will have to leap in order to get past congress, who just last month took a large step toward stopping a decriminalization bill.

Florida

Florida hopes to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes this November.  In order for the law to pass, they will need a 60% turn out from voters in favor of medical marijuana, which shouldn’t be an issue as recent polls have suggested that support was over 80% across the boards.

Lawmakers at a state level have already voted to allow a strain of CBD high marijuana that has shown to be helpful in treating seizures.

New York

Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, signed a bill this past weekend that will make New York the 23rd medical marijuana state in the US.

Governor Cuomo has been criticized for how restrictive New York’s medical marijuana program will be and that they won’t have marijuana available for over a year and a half.  He also implemented a strict policy on which diseases will qualify patients for a card as well as only allowing patients to eat or vaporize the product while smoking will still remain illegal.

Arizona & Nevada

Arizona and Nevada both have initiatives for marijuana legalization to be on 2016 ballot and will be greatly influenced by the Marijuana Policy Project.