4 States Just Legalized Recreational Weed
Green with envy?
While many in the left-leaning states of California and Massachusetts may have found the election of Republican Donald Trump shocking, they may soon be able to light up a joint and smoke the stress away without being arrested or ticketed for a misdemeanor.
In California Proposition 64 passed with 56 percent of the vote. That means that as of today, marijuana is legal to smoke for fun, to cultivate, and to sell for any Californian age 21 and over. Restrictions similar to those put on alcohol still apply—it’s illegal to drive while stoned, of course. Also don’t go sparking up on the sidewalk outside a restaurant (before you enter, to work up an appetite), because smoking out in public will still net a $100 fine.
California’s passage effectively makes the entire west coast of the United States weed country, from Baja up to Vancouver.
Ballot Question 4 in Massachusetts passed with 54 percent of the vote. In the Bay State there was strong bipartisan opposition to the measure, with moderate Republican governor Charlie Baker and liberal Boston mayor Marty Walsh both vocally against it. Weed is fully legal on December 15, 2016 in Massachusetts, though the alcohol-like restrictions will apply there as well.
Nevada was the third and perhaps most surprising state to decisively legalize weed. That state’s Question 2 passed with 54 percent of the vote, a surprise because in spite of its reputation as the place to party with legal prostitution and all the gambling you can afford, Nevada has historically been pretty conservative, and recreational marijuana measures don’t often do well in right-of-center states. Still, Nevadans will have to wait a while before they can easily find ganja—possession of up to an ounce of weed won’t be officially legal there until January 1, 2018.
Question 1 in Maine, which legalizes possessing up 2.5 ounces of green, barely squeaked by. It won just a smidge over 50 percent of the vote and was opposed by the state’s arch conservative governor and the state Attorney General.
If you’re planning the kind of trippy trip that used to take Americans all the way to Amsterdam, it looks like you’ve got a potential itinerary outlined above.
h/t BusinessInsider
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